Battle Royale: Peach Creek
by Jack E. Jones
Summary: In America, The US has begun to adopt a new government, a dictatorship. As part of it, they would get a bunch of kids from a certain school, and make them fight to the death for three days. Watch as The Eds, Kevin and the Jocks, Sarah and the Wannabes and the Kanker family fight between each other, find love, have revelations that will startle you.
1. The Busride to Hell

It was the final day before summer vacation at Peach Creek Junior High. Every kid was excited like they would be at Christmas. Well, who wouldn't be? This particular class was going on a class study trip. The trip would take them out of state and it would take them three days to get there and three days back. Half of the classes were pumped, as most would be going somewhere fun this summer, while the rest were upset and moping around that they wouldn't be going home this summer. Whatever, they would quit whining when they got there anyway.

Sitting on the outside of the bus hall, looking out the window was Eddy McGee (Male Student No. 25). Sitting next to him were 'Double D' Martins (Male Student No. 18) and Ed Burkins (Male Student No. 8). The three boys called themselves 'The Eds'. They were one of the cliques in the school they went to, Peach Creek Junior High. Eddy was the mastermind of the group, yet he was the middleman. Half of the scams he would make would make them end up running from the cops, and a quarter of them would send him to juvenile hall. In those times he went there, he brought with him a stocky build. Double D was considered the genius of the group, and he didn't do much but read books and help Eddy with scam directions. Because all he did was read books and study, Double D wasn't really strong. In fact, he was skinny as a twig. Eddy would usually make fun of him for it. Eddy wanted to call it a gang, but Double D refused to call it that, since his record was ruined multiple time because of him.

Ed was the biggest and strongest of the group. Ed was the muscle when it came to scams and fighting, but usually Ed was his happy-go-lucky self. His parents forced him to lift weights, since they were health nuts and forced him to do things he didn't want to do. That was one of those reasons he hung out with Eddy and Double D. When the Eds fought, it was usually him taking on four guys at once, while Eddy got the scramblers. Double D would just look away and not pay attention.

Eddy looked at double D and elbowed him in his left arm.

"Double D, give me some room. I feel like a marshmallow between graham crackers." Complains Eddy.

"Eddy, I was just in the middle of a crossword puzzle, don't interrupt me." Says Double D.

Eddy pushed him into Ed, who looked at him with a big grin.

"Aw, does somebody want a hug?" says Ed, and he pulls Double D under his arm and squeezes him, effectively cutting off his oxygen.

As Eddy chuckled he looked all around the paper ball filled bus. He looked at the different cliques from their school. They were the loners, who were Johnny Martinez (Male Student No. 9), Rolf Kirkenshire (Male Student No. 14) and Terry McGee (Male Student No. 24). The rest of the loners were girls Eddy didn't know (Female Students No. 14, 9, and 21). The other clique was the Jocks. They usually wore school shirts, jackets, everything was made from the school. They were obsessed with it, maybe a little too obsessed. The leader was Kevin McCall (Male Student No. 17). The rest were also were kids Eddy didn't know (Male and Female Students No. 15, 16, 17, 20). The one that stood out in the Jock crowd was Nazz van Bartonschmeer (Female Student No. 25). Eddy fought Kevin a while back and it ended in a draw, but Kevin had been constantly taunting Eddy into a rematch everyday for two weeks up until now.

"Hey Eddy!" yelled Kevin from the fourth to last seat towards the back, "You want to fight after we stop? You want to get your ass kicked this time?"

"You'll get what's coming, you bitch! After I win, you'll be sucking your lackey's footballs for a week!"

Kevin scoffs the remark and sits back down. Eddy looks around until he sits back down. When he feels a pair of eyes on him, he looks towards Nazz, who turns her head just in time. Eddy wonders what was that all about as he sits back down and looks out the window.

The Wannabes sitting in the front (Male and Female Students 21, 22, 23, 24) and Sarah Burkins (Female Student No. 18) were sitting up in the front seat talking smack toward the bus driver. They were the least known gang and they thought they were bad ass, but all they did was talk smack. Eddy watched them from afar, and sat back with a grunt. He hated those wannabes, especially Sarah, who was Ed's little sister. She thought she was better than everyone, and she was in love with Double D, which irritated him even more. Speaking of being in love, Eddy thought about the Kanker family, a family clique that had Lee, May and Marie Kanker (Female Students No. 1,2,3,4) They had one of the largest cliques in Peach Creek, with their brothers and cousins (Students No. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) They went to war with each clique at least once, the latter usually winning. They ran the school with an iron fist and they did many things that would get them in trouble. But, somehow they never did.

Before Eddy went into a daydream state, Double D woke him up with a shake

"Eddy, wake up. Nazz is here." Says Double D.

Eddy woke up with an irritated noise, and combed his fingers through his long brown hair. He looked up at Nazz, who was sitting on her knees between him and Double D. She was giggling, probably Eddy was so annoyed.

"Hey Eddy." Nazz said.

"Nazz, you know you can't be seen with an Ed. Kevin'll be on my ass again," Says Eddy.

"Don't worry about him," says Nazz. "I'll deal with that. But, I wanted to see what you were up to."

Eddy didn't want to make an ass out of himself (besides, he liked her anyway) so he talked a little bit politer.

"Well, we're just being us right about now. Like we usually are." He answered. "Well I don't about these two, but I'm pretty normal."

Nazz giggled sat properly between them. It was a tight squeeze, but Nazz was pretty slim, but it still was pretty packed in their seat.

"I also wanted to say happy birthday, Eddy." Says Nazz, and he gives him a card.

"I thought Jocks didn't give a crap about us, and besides, my birthday's not for two weeks."

"Like I said, I'll deal with later."

Nazz got up from their seat and walked away. Eddy opened up the letter and found a card. Inside were fifteen dollars and a note, saying _'you can thank me later. Signed, Nazz.'_ Eddy smirked when he saw the money, but got a little suspicious of her behavior. Was she hitting on me or was she just in the school spirit, he thought to himself.

No matter, money's good no matter where it's from. Eddy looked out the window at the sunset, thinking about all the things he'd do when he'd get to their destination. Eddy began to think of all the trouble he would get into, and all the money he would get, and then he thought about when he'd get home. Eddy began to feel drowsy, but didn't pay no mind, as he fell asleep, he held his money tightly in his fists, but felt something was wrong…incredibly wrong…


	2. The Beginning

Eddy woke up, realizing he was sitting at a desk. He looked to his left and saw Double D slumped forward, his beanie leaning off his head, showing his medium blonde hair. To his right, he saw Kevin, and made a glare when he saw he was waking up. Eddy fixed his skull cap and straightened his pants, and sat back down when he felt something finally constricting on his neck. He started to stroke his neck when he felt something metallic, almost like a collar wrapped around his neck. He began to pull on it when Johnny grabbed his shoulder from behind and said,

"I don't think you should do that."

Eddy turned around and to his surprise; he saw that the loner he would always pick on because of his big head had a collar around his neck, too. He and Johnny turned around and examined the classroom, and saw that everyone had collars exactly like theirs. In the back of the room, he saw that the cousin of the Kanker sisters was just sitting back and smoking a cigarette (Eddy envied that he was smoking one of his favorite cigarette brands, a pack of Morlbarry cigarettes.). When he came out of his examination trance, Double D tapped him on the shoulder.

"Eddy, is this one of your pranks?" said Double D, "Because it isn't funny anymore."

"Double D, wise up." Responded Eddy, "How in hell could I bring you guys all by myself to this place?"

Double D realized what he just said and looked away, with a puzzled look on his face. As he looked around, again, he realized he was inside a classroom. He dreaded to be back in a classroom, so he considered it being a part of a Scared Straight program. When he turned around, he saw the different cliques waking from their slumber. As, they came out of their state, Eddy walked around and looked at the others. The rest of the class had the exact same collar on themselves, and when Eddy looked out the window, military helicopters were looking inside the building. This wasn't any ordinary class trip, Eddy thought.

As Eddy sat down to collect his thoughts, a man dressed in a plain blue suit walked into the room. He was being escorted by Marines carrying machine guns with them. Eddy stared at the man and looked at Ed, who was still knocked out from the trip (everyone else was awake…why wasn't he?)

"Hello, class. How is everyone today?" said the man.

Eddy recognized that voice. It was his eighth grade chemistry teacher. He and Eddy had been at each other's throats since the first day of school, when Eddy began mouthing off to him during lectures. Eddy shook Ed awake, and pointed towards the man.

"Mr. Hardwick? What are you doing here?" asks Eddy.

"I'll explain that in a few minutes. In the meantime, Eddy, you keep your mouth shut." Says Mr. Hardwick.

"Whatever, Mr. Hard-dick." Says Eddy, who receives a slap in the face.

Eddy stood up and got into the teacher's face, but he decided to sit down, planning on kicking the crap out of him. When he sat back down, Kevin began to snicker, and that provoked Eddy into punching him in the arm.

"Now, class. As you can see, we have soldiers here. I will explain that also. But, for now, let say something."

Mr. Hardwick walked around the room, examining the class and the students.

"For those of you who don't remember me, I am Mr. Hardwick. I was the chemistry teacher in your eighth grade. I taught a few of you, and I've been having problems with _some_ of you…but that's not the point."

"The reason why you're here is that you have been assigned a special assignment."

Eddy groaned and leaned back into his chair, crossing his arms as he dusted off his heavy jacket.

"The assignment for you today is…is to kill each other off."

The room went silent as the words bounced around the room with an echo.

"The whole reason you will be killing each other off is you have been selected as one of the classes to participate in a new government program. Well, it's not new, Japan has one just like ours, but the wannabe kings of this country decided to become like them."

As the kids registered what he had just said, Mr. Hardwick went up to the chalkboard and wrote the words; _**Battle Royale: the American Dream. **_(Let's just say the Americans were to bored and lazy to make up another name for the program.)

Eddy tapped Double D on his shoulder and whispered something into his ear. Double D looked at him with a disgusted look on his face, but looked back to the teacher, who was standing next to the chalkboard.

"Now, class. We are going to watch a film, explaining the rules of Battle Royale. Pay attention, because it might save your life.

Mr. Hardwick popped in an old VHS tape, and turned on the television set.

_Hello, and welcome to Battle Royale: the American Dream! You have been selected to take part in an American version of a Japanese military program. As your teacher might've already told you, you will be on a huge reservation of land, and for three days you will fight to the death. When you head on out, you will be issued a backpack filled with goodies, called a daypack. They will contain food and water, a map, compass, pencils for when you write things off, and a weapon. Now remember, we won't be complete copycats of the Japanese, as they select their weapons at random. You will be issued a weapon that will be based on your personality. Like this axe, used like a tool but sharp and dangerous. That might describe one of you. One more thing, the collars on your neck is actually a bomb. If you step into a forbidden zone, shown here, the collar will detonate! BOOM! Or if no one is killed within 24 hours, your collars will also explode! So be careful and good luck, brave soldiers!_

The kids sat there, registering what the girl on the TV had said. Eddy shook his head and brought out the kids around him out of their state as well. He looked toward the teacher, who began passing about pencils and pieces of paper.

"Now, repeat after me and write this down. We will kill each other, we will win, we will survive, and we will die."

The kids did exactly what they said, and they put their pencils down.

"Now, I will list off the names one by one, until we reach the last person. Good luck out there!"

The kids waited anxiously for their names to be called, trying to get the idea of their best friends, brothers, sisters, cousins and crushes will be at their throats.

"This is going to be one hell of a battle, I hope I don't die." Eddy said to himself.

They all sat there in silence, waiting for their impending doom to come….


	3. The Games Begin

"Male Student No. 1, Jamie Kanker." Said Mr. Hardwick.

The first Kanker Family member got up from his desk. He moved with a slight stagger, as if he was in some kind of accident, and grabbed his day pack from the rack. Picking up speed, he ran toward the exit of the school and eventually disappeared into the night.

"Female Student No. 1, Lee Kanker."

Lee Kanker shook her red curls and snickered a little. She, too, grabbed her day pack and ran toward the door.

"Male Student No. 2, Jack Kanker."

This eventually got down to the last Kanker family member, and they too, headed towards their fate.

Next was Ed, Male student No. 8, Ed leaned back into his seat and listened to what Double D had to say to him. He looked at him and smiled, and grabbed his day pack and ran full force, almost knocking down one of the soldiers.

"Next is Male Student No.9, Johnny Martinez."

Johnny looked at the ground with a sad look in his eyes, and then got up from his seat. He gave Eddy a parting glance and a small nod, and casually walked out the door, his hands in his pockets.

"Next is Female Student No. 9"

She was in a panic to get out of the door, she almost tripped over Eddy's foot sticking out of under the desk.

"Male Student No. 10, Female Student No. 10, Male Student No. 11…"

Then they finally came down to Rolf's name.

"Male Student No. 14, Rolf Kirkenshire."

Rolf made his face into a determined scowl and walked up to Mr. Hardwick. He mumbled something to Mr. Hardwick and spit on his shoe, which ended up getting him a slap to the face, just like Eddy. Rolf then quickly made his exit.

"Female Student No. 14, Male Student No. 15, Female Student No. 15, Male Student No. 16…"

It finally came down to Kevin, who was sitting on his desk, running his fingers through his cropped hair.

"MALE STUDENT NO. 17, KEVIN MCCALL, GET UP HERE!" yelled Mr. Hardwick.

"Alright, alright…shoes." Says Kevin.

He grabbed his pack and looked at Eddy and said,

"Hope I don't come for you first."

"You better watch what you're saying," Eddy replied "Or else I'll wipe that smirk off your face with the back of my fist."

Kevin scoffed at him and made a full blown sprint out the door. Somewhere outside, guns were popping off. Eddy realized how dangerous his situation would be, and crossed his fingers in his jacket pockets to make sure he didn't die first.

After calling off the Female Student No. 17, Double D looked at Eddy. A Nervous look in his eyes, he leaned in and said,

"I just talked to Ed, and we came up with a plan. I'll wait for you at the southern tip of the reservation, down near the lake. If anyone follows you, run in a different direction. I'll understand if you don't come."

"Ok," said Eddy. "He's about to call you, look alive."

"Male Student No. 18, Eddward Martins."

Before Double D walked up to get his pack, he looked at Eddy, took his hand in his, clapped his hand on them, and gave Eddy a reassuring nod. Eddy returned it and made a mental note to stay close to his friends.

"Female Student No. 18, Sarah Burkins."

Sarah scoffed and went up to the front of the class. She looked at Eddy and mouthed the words _I'll be coming for you_. Eddy then mouthed _Bitch please, all you do is talk smack, and you can't get me_. Sarah gave a sarcastic smile and smacked Ed on the back of the head, which made Eddy get up and smack her across the face. She starts to cry and that provokes the teacher.

"No hitting other students!" says Hardwick, and he throws a silver object at him.

Eddy dodges the silver object and looks back at the wall, realizing that he threw a knife at him. Mr. Hardwick just dusted off his jacket and began reading.

"Male and Female Students No. 19, Male and Female Students No. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24"

It finally came down to Eddy and Nazz, who looked at each other. Eddy feared for her safety, while Nazz looked at him in disbelief. They looked away after about five seconds to hear the announcement.

"Male and Female Students No. 25, Eddy McGee and Nazz Van Bartomschmeer."

They got up from their seats, when Nazz took Eddy by the hand. Eddy began to wonder if she was starting to like him, just decided to trust him, or she just wanted to warm up to him just to kill him in the end. That didn't matter to him. As they walked up to the day pack rack, he looked at her and said,

"Nazz, I want to help you. I want you to trust me, okay? I'm heading to the southern tip of the reservation here, and I want you to come with."

"I don't know. It sounds risky. And besides, Kevin will be waiting for me."

"I'll deal with him later," says Eddy. "For now, just stick to me."

Eddy and Nazz grabbed their day packs and ran towards the exit. As they run down the pathway to the nearby bus garage, Eddy looks inside his day pack. What he finds surprises him.

"They gave me a machete. I can't believe it."

Eddy examined the machete and found a note written on it. It said 'short and useable, but sharp and effective."

Eddy got annoyed when it said short, but it didn't matter. He looked over to Nazz and saw she had a pipe. They type of pipe where you smoke tobacco. It even came with a tobacco pack. The note said 'fiery and your inner beast needs to be ignited. But, cooling after being blown away.'

This guy's a perv, Eddy thought to himself. Being a little selfless, he traded the machete for the pipe.

"Thanks for helping me. I could be dead if we weren't together."

"Don't jinx this, ok?" says Eddy. "You could kill me in my sleep now that I gave you that machete…damn it, I gave you an idea."

Nazz giggled a little bit and said, "Don't worry. I won't. I can trust you, can I?"

Eddy looked at her with a little bit and gave a reassuring nod on his head. Then from out of nowhere, somebody let out a war cry. Out from behind a bus, came one of the Kanker Cousins, wielding a sledgehammer. He lunged for Eddy, who pushed Nazz out of the way just in time. He then lunged forward out of harm, and saw that he dropped the machete. Looking up, he saw that the boy with the sledgehammer came down upon him, on which he tumbled out of safety. He gets up on his feet and wrestles with the assailant. Feeling that sooner or later the Kanker would overpower him, he looked into his enemy's eyes, green with hatred and his yellow teeth had the stench of a rotting carcass and they were crooked. With a reflex, he kneed him in the gut. The assailant keeled over, trying to get wind back in his lungs, when Eddy came down on him with the machete. One blow to the head, and he was decapitated. Even though Eddy, thinking that watching scary movies over and over again would make him resistant to gore, thought he would be fine, he couldn't help but lean over and vomit. That was his first kill.

Eddy looked to his right and saw Nazz had a shocked look on her face. He walked over to her and knelt down beside her, trying to console her that she would be fine.

"I'm sorry that I had to kill him in front of you. But, he attacked us. I had to…please believe me."

It took a few moments to register what happened in Nazz's mind, but she looked at him and said,

"It's okay. You had to do it. I'll be fine."

And with that, Eddy packed away his machete, picked up the pipe and tobacco bag, grabbed Nazz's hand and they ran South towards their meeting point with the others.


	4. The Time to Think

Ed (Male Student No.8) had just left the school. Already, he'd covered at least a half a mile, thanks to his health-nut parents. He hadn't run into anybody and nobody ran into him, which is good because he hadn't found out what weapon he had. He had his fists and his brute strength, but what good will that be if he takes on a gang?

As Ed stopped to rest, he checked the time on his watch. 9 p.m. was what it read. This meant that they had been here for about seven hours. Ed began to remember it hadn't been that long since they all got on the bus thinking they were going out of state. It didn't matter. As Ed sat down on a flat rock, he dropped his day pack on the ground and zipped it open. He found his compass, his map, his food and something heavy. He felt around and picked it up. What he found was a medium sized rock, something he could fit in one hand and use the other if he wanted to be even more violent.

"Aw, why do I have to have a rock?" complained Ed.

Ed put it back into his daypack and took out his map and flashlight. Double D told them to meet him at the southern tip of the reservation, down by the lake, which meant he would have to travel another mile and a half just to get toward his destination.

"Man, why does Double D have to be such a downer?" says Ed.

And without thinking to check behind him, Ed bounded away and headed south, unaware that somebody was stalking him.

…12:00

"Hello everyone!" said Mr. Hardwick.

The sound of Mr. Hardwick's voice was loud but no speakers could be found. He carried on with the rest of his announcements.

"Now then, going on the kills list…ooh…I can't believe this. Only one kill! And that one was Arnold Kanker (Male Student No.3). Hurry up little ones, don't be a downer. And now here are the Danger zones! At 1:30, E-5, 3:00, D-6, and at 5:00, A-1…Have a happy hunting season!"

The sound of an anthem goes off, and then there is nothing but silence..

…12:30

Had it been only hours since he was playing basketball with his teammates? Kevin McCall couldn't remember, since he was too focused on finding Nazz and staying alive. Kevin had been with two of his fellow Jocks (Male Students No. 15, 16, and they all had begun to settle down. Kevin had searched through his daypack and found a baseball bat, with the note saying 'heavy hitter, but when used correctly, will deal brutal force.' Kevin smirked at the note and twisted his red baseball cap. He straightened his Peach Creek Jr. High school spirit jacket and fixed his running pants, and looked at his fellow jocks.

The boy next to him had gotten a baseball helmet, and the other had gotten a pan. Feeling superior since he had the superior weapon, he decided to speak for them.

"Fellas, since I'm the one with the better weapon, I'll be the leader of this group. And I'll be thinking of many questions to ask me, I'll answer them."

The boy next to him got up.

"Why do you have to be the leader?" he said.

"Because I have the better weapon. All you've got is your baseball helmet." Kevin responded. "Now, will we be having problems?"

The kid shook his head and sat back on his haunches.

"Now, as first order of business, we go after Eddy Skipper McGee. Next, we get my girl back, and we take care of the others later."

The boys howled in excitement, and Kevin feeling united, wrapped his hand around his bat and held it up in the air. He felt like he could be on top of the world, his peers kissing the ground he stepped on, and envying his existence. He felt like that once before, but it was a long time ago.

On that day, Kevin had been playing a soccer game with his friends and he made the most points. In fact, he made all of the points. The other team and his began to worship him, as if he were a god. Well, that's what he felt had happened. What happened really was that their coach had ordered them to cheer for him, because if they don't they would be taken off the team and could not come back if they wanted to. Kevin didn't know and he didn't care, all he wanted to do was win. And if he didn't win, he would take it out on the nearest person. That actually happened, his team was doing so horrible that even the star player (Kevin), couldn't coach them back into it. So, when they lost, he took it out on the goalie.

Kevin stepped down and began writing on his map.

"Now, we know the twerp will be hiding, so let's first head to the west side of the reservation. Everyone knows, cowards always head west. And if we can't find him, we first find the other dorks. We'll take them out and we'll get them to make him come out of his hiding place."

Kevin was on the brink of losing his sanity just listening to himself. After he told the plans to his lackeys, he and the other sprinted west, surely thinking that their enemy would be there.

….1:30

The Kanker sisters had begun to walk, believing that their family would come and help them, but after listening to the announcements, it was clear that they would not survive if they didn't find allies. They could only trust each other and family, because family was very important to them. As they walked, they pulled out each other weapons.

May's Weapon: a fake swordfish, the tip at the end filed down so even the slightest prick will draw blood.

Lee's weapon: a trash can lid.

Marie's weapon: a ship in a bottle.

They all ditched their weapon, except for keeping May's swordfish, which they constantly fought over, all the while calling out the ones they loved.

"Marie, It's my turn to use the fish." Said Lee.

"Bullshit, you used it like a million times now, it's my turn." Argued Marie.

"Guys, it's my turn. It's my weapon anyway." Yelled May.

The three girls began to get into frenzy, punching each other, pulling their hair, biting each other. In an instant, they went from being one, big happy family to their old days. Back when, they Kanker family didn't move into the trailer park, where they would fight everyday, every hour. Those were the times when all was not well in the park.

As the three wrestled, their collars began to beep. Not caring that they were near a danger zone, they began to lose their strength, with Lee being the winner of their battle.

"Ah-hah! I win! I get the Mon-" said Lee.

During their fight, they didn't realize that they moved into the danger zone, and within a mere five seconds, the collars exploded, leaving a red mist that left a former happy sister family in a pool of red.

…

Johnny Martinez (Male Student No. 9) had run into a neighborhood of empty houses and useless parked cars. It had reminded him of the cul-de-sac growing up, except the fact that there were no people and their parents weren't going to work or watching them leave for school, or watching them play.

Johnny had always been on his own, even from the time he was born. His parents would usually be gone for hours and never come back until early in the morning. That occurred three days out of the week. That being the case, he never learned that being annoying would come back to haunt him. One day he got on a kid's nerves and was beaten to the point where he needed a cast on his nose. After that, he had learned to keep his mouth shut, unless he was around friends or classmates, which was usually most of the time. His best friend Plank had decided to skip school, and he didn't come with him on the trip.

"Ooh, I miss Plank. But, I'm glad, too. He wouldn't be in this game." He said to himself.

Turning a corner, he saw a huge house, a three story house that had a lot of vacant room in their. Johnny saw his chance at some fortification and barged in the back door. He found it wasn't as vacant as he thought, as he saw some furniture and a broken TV set, it didn't matter to him. As long as he had some place to hide, he felt safe.

Johnny sat on the couch in the living room and unloaded his day pack. Inside, he found his weapon: it was a pocket knife, the note said 'a complete tool, but used in the right hands can be dangerous.'

Johnny hated being called a tool, but he realized a tool would be safer than nothing. He put the pocket knife inside his pocket and then pulled out a Moll Toll cigarette pack. He then reached into his other pocket, and found his book of matches he stole from his dad. He took out his cigarette and began to smoke, trying to relax and contain himself.

"Damn, it feels good to finally take a drag of those cigarettes. I love this brand."

As Johnny slowly took a next puff of smoke, he began to think, he began to think about all the trouble he had gotten into and who he had gotten into it with.

He remembered one day where he and his gang of loners jumped a kid that gave him a cold stare, like he was a bad ass. He then remembered that time he and Eddy had gotten into a fist fight in the bathroom, but then made up when he and Eddy skipped school to avoid detention.

"Eddy…oh, you Eddy…" he said to himself.

Johnny had begun to compare himself to Eddy, as he knew most of his life was just like his. He and Eddy came from broken homes, Johnny's parents neglected him and Eddy's parents sometimes abuse him, but usually let his brother pick on him. He and Eddy dressed alike, baggy pants, huge shirts, and clothes that usually led to somebody liking hip hop. And he and Eddy did like hip hop, except Johnny was all about the underground and alternative. He and Eddy also smoke, too, except that Eddy usually smoked Morlbarry cigarettes and he smoked Moll Tolls. As he contemplated his next move in the morning, he decided that he would try and find Eddy in the morning.

As Johnny took one last drag of the cigarette, he noticed footsteps coming from the side of the house. Johnny quickly put the cigarette out on the ground and grabbed his pocketknife and hid behind a dresser, waiting for whoever came into the house to go away or fight him…

"Damn it, just what I needed. I don't want to kill anybody just now."

As Johnny held his knife in his hand, he waited for the opportunity to strike.


	5. The RunIn

…2:00 a.m

Eddy and Nazz had been running for at least a half hour. The whole time they had been together, they had been hiding from most of the time. The only kill Eddy had at the time was one of the Kanker family members. He didn't know his name, but he had run into him a few times at school. As they took time to rest, Eddy pulled out his map.

"Ok, Nazz listen to me." Said Eddy. "Before Double D headed out the door, he told me to meet him at the southern part of this reservation, down by the lake right here."

Nazz nodded her head in understanding.

"The bad thing about that is," Nazz pointed out, "There's a forbidden zone right there. That's where Double D told you to meet you."

Eddy checked the map again, and groaned in disbelief. He had forgotten to cross out that section of the map, so they would have to meet somewhere else. Eddy took out the pipe he had taken from Nazz and was about to put it to his lips, but he decided against it, deciding that he would use it if he didn't find any Morlbarry cigarettes first.

"Ok, that won't work out. We'll have to find some other place to find him. Guess Double D's brilliant plan didn't work out for a change."

Nazz put her hand on Eddy's shoulder, "I know. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. There's nothing you should be sorry about…" said Eddy.

Out of nowhere, the distant sound of gunfire began to form, and the sound of a gunfight was rattling the air.

Eddy turned his head toward the sound. "Shit, looks like they brought guns to the knife fight, huh?"

Nazz looked at Eddy, and Eddy returned the look. They sat there, looking at each other for a minute, until Eddy spoke up.

"We have to get out of here, but from where we heard the gunshots, we'll have to make Double D wait for a little bit. For now, let's just get out of here."

Eddy took Nazz by the hand and began one of the longest sprints of his life, not realizing he would be heading straight into a battle zone.

…

Double D had been walking for hours, not caring about the gunshots in the background, for he had one destination in mind: the meeting place for him and his best friends. He was closest to the lake, as he had decided not to take any other routes other than the quickest route he could find, and that was straight. He hadn't looked into his daypack, so he had no idea what his weapon was. He didn't even pull out his map, except for when he writes off danger zones on it, but other than that he hasn't pulled out for anything. The only thing that guided him was his intelligence, following his teachings in school, following where the ground was wettest and where the moss on the rocks was pointing.

Double D walked into a wooded area, the brush was scraping against his jeans and the branches were pulling at his beanie, making him straighten his hat a least twice a minute. He finally got irritated, and he finally sat down on a rock. He decided to look through his day pack, and he saw his supplied food, equipment and his weapon. It was a math book. Why would they give him a math book? Before he threw it away, he looked at it closely. He realized it wasn't a math book, it was a survival book, and being used as a bookmark was a whittling card.

"Why did they give me this? I know I'm an intellectual prodigy, but I know nothing about living in the woods. I haven't even been into the local nature park, so why would I know a thing about this?"

Double D stopped whining, realizing that only sitting and pouting would only reveal his position. He examined his book and looked at the whittling card inside. The note on the card said 'use this to your advantage'.

"How am I supposed to use this?" said Double D.

Double D decided he would find it out later, and decided to start walking.

….

At the same time Double D was walking toward the lake, the Jocks were on Eddy's trail. Kevin began to sweat on how he would take Eddy out, not realizing he was losing his sanity. He had only been here for a few hours, but already he was becoming stone cold and he was growing more and more insane. His fellow Jocks had seen this, and began to question his leadership, thinking even more that they should leave.

"Hey boss…" says one of the Jocks.

"What?" said Kevin, in a cold, irritated tone.

"Uh, how do you know that that Eddy kid would be headed west." Said the other.

"When he would run from the cops, he would head west. When he took my money, he headed west. When he got into that fight with us and it ended in a draw, he went west…so its official, cowards head west."

"Yeah, but how do you know for sure, I mean-"

Kevin punched the jock on his right, right in the face.

"I KNOW FOR SURE! THAT BASTARD HAS MY GIRL! WHO KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING!"

The other boys were too scared to fight back, so they went back to kissing the ground Kevin walked on, scared for their lives.

Out of nowhere, they heard rustling in the woods, the sound of talking was becoming more and clearer, and an all too familiar voice was being heard.

Then, out of the bushes, came a kid. Dressed in a heavy black jacket, blue jeans, black white sneakers and a white t-shirt sticking out from the bottom of the jacket, fingerless gloves and a black skull cap, was the one and only, Eddy McGee, who had hours ago been challenged to a fight that would come with deadly consequences now. At his side, was Kevin's 'girl', Nazz Van Bartonschmeer.

"Son of a bitch," says Kevin, a smirk crossing his lips. "Thought we would be the ones to hunt you, but I guess it's the other way around for now."

"Kevin, I don't want to fight." Says Eddy.

"Bullshit, what are you doing with my girl?" he snapped back.

"Kevin, I'm not your girlfriend and I never will be." Said Nazz, "But, please let's not fight."

"No, you're my girl no matter what, you're a jock and you're going to like it. Now, get over here!" he yelled.

"Over my dead body!" she yelled.

Kevin grinned, and turned his hat around so the brim faced forward (that's what Kevin does to show he's angry.). He looked at Eddy, his eyes full of hate and anger and looked down at his hand, which was gripping the hilt of the machete he had.

"I guess it will come down to your dead body then." Said Kevin, calmly.

The sounds of metal against aluminum crashed against each other as Kevin swung his bat, and now the fight was on.

…2:15

Johnny had been hiding in the house for at least an hour, his heart racing and pounding against his chest. The intruder didn't leave, searching every nook and cranny, searching for him. If it hadn't been for Johnny smoking that cigarette, he would've been gone a long time ago.

Johnny's gloved hands held his pocket knife, his racing mind pulling a plan. He would make a run for it and not look back. If that didn't work, he'd have to fight his way out.

Johnny wiped sweat from his brow, took a deep breath, and he jumped from his hiding spot. As he jumped from his spot, he spotted his enemy. Ironic that, he looked up just as Johnny did.

He was a big kid, about six feet, had slicked back hair, medium in size, and he was drinking his battle issued water, and in the glow of the moonlight, he saw his blue eyes. He got up, and smiled. His smile was white as a pearl, no crooked teeth, and his face was clear as plastic wrap, not a pimple in sight.

Johnny knew he was one of the Kankers, because he had fought him before. He was the only good looking Kanker, ironic since he was one the most violent out of his family. He was also the most creative out of the whole school, making a picture out of nothing but chairs in his science room.

"Hello. Remember me?" said the kid.

"Yeah, I remember you." Said Johnny.

"Then you must remember why I'm here."

Johnny looked at the thing in his hand, and realized that it was a switchblade. He knew it was a switchblade, because he had a switchblade when Johnny fought him.

"They didn't give me a weapon; I guess that he knew that I carry this all the time. Kind of cool, huh?" he said.

"Cut the bullshit, kid." Said Johnny. "What do you want?" Johnny began to lift his weapon in front of his face, his hand protecting his face.

"Oh, All I want to do is be your friend. You know, make up for when I beat you up?"

"I know your type!" yelled Johnny. "I've met psycho motherfuckers like you! You just want to bring me in to kill me! Well, I won't have it!"

Johnny lunged forward, thrusting his knife into his opponents' chest. The boy dodged it just in time, and kneed Johnny in the stomach. Johnny rolled on the ground for about five seconds, when he noticed the boy jumping and coming down with his weapon. He rolled out of the way and came up and punched him. The boy stopped to examine his face, and he flushed with rage.

"MY FACE! YOU LITTLE FUCKER!" he said.

Johnny didn't put his guard down, and did a baseball slide to knock him down. The kid cart wheeled out of the way and kicked him in the head.

"Doesn't feel good, does it?" he said.

Johnny, slowly but surely, got up and wiped his mouth with his sleeve, looking at the blood on his jacket. Johnny began to back away, looking at the wooden chair. Without thinking, he grabbed the chair and threw it at his opponent. The boy blocked it with his fore arm, and before he could get his eyes on Johnny, he had sprinted out the door, his bag on his shoulder.

"THIS ISN'T OVER! I'LL GET YOU, YOU PISS ANT!" the boy yelled.

Johnny didn't care, all he did was try and get away.

"I have to find Eddy, maybe he'll help me." Said Johnny to himself.

Johnny ran down the street full force and didn't look back…


	6. The Test of Sanity

…2:30

Sarah Burkins and her three 'thugs' had been running through the urban jungle of the reservation. She never once stopped to rest, forcing her followers to run when they weren't. Her drive was to find Double D, the 'dreamy' boy she thought would sweep her off her feet and take her away from the game. She didn't care for the boys following though (Male Students No. 21 & 23), she could give two shits if they died, not like the rest of them. At eleven o' clock at night, just a few hours ago, they had all fought each other under suspicion that one of them was going to stab the other in the back (the gunfire heard in the background). She and two of her pawns ran without trying to stop the fight, the only concern on Sarah's mind was her well being.

Sarah and her boys finally stopped to rest. They found a curb and sat down and checked their day packs. Sarah found a MAC-10 with a note saying 'a princess like you could use a little more protection'. The boy on her left had a Remington 870 shotgun; the other had an S&W .357 Magnum.

"Awesome, beats having to use a damn tooth brush filed down to make a shiv. Now I can be a real gangster." Said Sarah.

"What are you talking about?" said No. 21, "We are real gangsters!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot." Said Sarah, with a giggle.

As they opened their daypacks wider, they found their battle issued rations. Feeling a little hungry, Sarah grabbed her ration pack. Inside was three bottles of water, two huge loaves of bread, some trail mix and some dried fruit. Without thinking, Sarah grabbed the bread and took a bite. It tasted like a hard piece of crap, which made Sarah spit it out onto the road.

"Aw, come on! Don't spit it out here!" said No. 23.

"What, it tasted like shit!" yelled Sarah.

The others didn't care what it tasted like, as they happily ate their bread. Sarah, feeling annoyed that they were eating and enjoying it, decided to swallow her pride and she took a huge bite, washing it down with a little water.

As the wannabes were enjoying their food, the sound of footsteps was coming closer their way. From the sound of it, the footsteps were running away from something. Sarah shook her thugs from their lunch and held up her weapon. As the sound turned a corner, she saw someone. She saw a boy, baggy blue jeans, and a brown jacket that matched his beanie, blue fingerless gloves and a huge head. It was Johnny Martinez.

Without thinking, she yelled 'Get him!' and opened fire. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Johnny was gone. She had missed every single shot, because she still heard footsteps running away. She threw her gun down on the pavement in disgust.

As Sarah put her head in her hands and pouted, she felt the cold metal of a barrel press against the back of her head. She turned around and saw that her allies had begun to hold her hostage.

"Wait, what are you doing?" she begged.

"Let's just say this is payback." Said No. 21.

"Payback…for what?" she asked.

"Think about it…last year, last day of school. You remember."

She did remember. On the last day of school before her sixth year, she had walked around town with a fellow wannabe. She and she were trying to make up for a slap fight that happened the week before. They turned a corner into an alleyway, and before she could apologize, two men came from behind. They grabbed the other and began to rape her; all the while Sarah just watched in horror and ran away a minute later.

"WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO? THEY WERE GROWN MEN, WHAT COULD I HAVE DONE?" she yelled.

"YOU COULD'VE AT LEAST CALLED THE COPS! BUT YOU DIDN'T!" he screamed back.

"WE HATE THE COPS! THEY WOULDN'T HAVE DONE ANYTHING!"

"My dad was a cop, he could've helped." He said calmly.

Sarah began to cry and beg and he began to pull the trigger.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" somebody yelled.

The three kids turned their heads, to see a muscular figure in the middle of the road. It was her brother Ed.

…

KLANG! CRASH!

The sound of metal against aluminum began to illuminate in the night. Kevin and Eddy, the Ed versus the Jock, had been fighting for the fate of the girl they both liked. Kevin's motives were simple; take her away, but if that didn't work out, kill her and take her body. Eddy had one option on his mind; keep her safe. The rich kid versus the poor kid, duking it out in their final fight, this time to the death.

The other jocks and Nazz were sitting there, watching. They didn't want to disturb the fight because that meant they would've probably died.

"What's the matter, Eddy? Too fat? A little out of shape, eh?" said Kevin.

"Bitch please, I'm in way better shape than you are." Said Eddy, through gritted teeth.

"Whatever! You're skinny twig arms can't go against me." Kevin smirked.

"You'll see how useless my arms are when I tear your head off!" Eddy yelled.

Kevin's bat found its mark, against Eddy's stomach. Eddy tightened his stomach to absorb the blow and his machete sliced Kevin's chest. Kevin stumbled back and touched his chest. The blood began to darken his blue spirit wear jacket, and his face turned as red as his hair.

"YOU'RE DEAD, YOU BITCH!" he yelled.

He tackled Eddy to the ground. It became a wrestling match, as the two boys began to toss each other this way and that. Eddy finally began to get tired, but Kevin's hate and anger was too strong to let up. He landed on top of Eddy and began to strangle him.

"Goodnight, Eddy. Looks like you won't make it to the dance again."

Before he could squeeze the final moments of life out of Eddy, a metal object ran through Kevin's chest. It was Eddy's machete. Kevin turned around, and saw Nazz covered in his blood. As Kevin drew his last breath, he remarked.

"I'll see you both in hell…"

And He collapsed…

The other jocks looked at the mess and got too scared. They began to run from the carnage, as Eddy began to get up. Nazz helped him to his feet, and they picked up the left weapons and carried on.

…

Rolf Kirkenshire had been walking ever since the game began. His persistence was surely that of a god, as his belief in Yeshmiyek was pushing him. Pushing him to his goal; Kill Ed. Rolf's rage had kindled and began to blaze through his mind and his farm boy soul. Rolf and Ed had no rivalry, yet they were not friends. The reason being Rolf decided to try and kill Ed was because of his strength. Ed's strength and Rolf's were equal to each other, and their bodies were similar, too. Rolf thought that if he could best Ed, he would become the strongest in school. His ultimate goal was to become the strongest in school, as he had no reputation prior to that, feeling he needed to be accepted as the best of the best.

"Rolf's hunger overwhelms him. Maybe I should sit down and eat." He said to himself.

He sat down on a rock and opened his pack. Inside he found his weapon; a whip. The note said, 'Use it, farm boy'.

"I will use it. I will use it against the muscular Ed boy." He said.

Rolf's rage began to blind him, and without thinking, he grabbed his whip, left his pack near a hiding place, took off his shirt and walked off to find his 'rival'.


	7. The New Knowledge

…3:00

"STOP!"

Ed had just arrived in time just to save his sister. The boy once known for his great stupidity and his immense strength had come back to save his only family. Ironic, since Sarah treated him like a piece of dog crap.

Ever since Sarah was born, Ed has looked out for her, and eventually became a slave for her every need. Sarah, after a little while, began to take advantage of her brother's loyalty and love. She made him do thing he really wouldn't do. But, after Ed became a freshman, he began to drive away from his sister's brattiness and arrogance, but he still looked out for her. Sarah didn't care, as long as she didn't have anybody to do what she wanted, she was angry.

Sarah turned her head in excitement and shock.

"Ed, it's you!" she cried.

"Let her go, kid. What did she do to you?" said Ed.

"What hasn't she done to me? What hasn't she done to _you_?" the kid said.

Ed's determined face didn't flinch one bit as he started to walk toward his sister's attackers. The boys held their guns up in front of them and began to tremble.

"Don't come any closer! I'll do it!"

Ed didn't stop for one second, as he walked faster and faster. It eventually led him to start running, and he ran towards them at full speed.

The boy with the shotgun pulled the trigger, miraculously missing Ed's chest. The boy with the revolver began to fire away, eventually running out of bullets.

Ed saw his chance and kneed the first boy in the face. He slammed his elbow into the second boy's stomach and tossed him over his shoulder. The boys came at him with all of their might, and their efforts did kind of work. The knocked him down but Ed came right back up. The boys knew their efforts wouldn't work, so they began to crawl away. Ed didn't let them get one centimeter away before he picked one of them up. He grabbed his neck and snapped it, just like a twig. He grabbed the second boy and slammed his fist into his nose, breaking it into pieces and slammed his fist into his face again. He kept going and going and going until all that was left was a bloody pulp.

Sarah watched all the while, cheering for her brother (more like her manservant.).

After Ed was done killing the boys, he looked towards his sister and walked away. Sarah began to get confused and ran towards her 'savior'.

"Ed, wait for me!" she yelled.

Ed just waved his hand like he was telling her to go away. She began to get more confused, and she ran faster.

"Ed, where are we going?" she asked.

"We? You're on your own, Sarah. I'm sorry…"

Sarah began to feel tears brimming on her eyelids. And for the first time, she realized that they weren't fake tears, but they were real.

"ED! DON'T LEAVE ME!" Sarah yelled.

"Did you not think for a second on what I did with my hand? I'm telling you to leave."

Ed turned his back a little while he kept walking to look at his sister.

"What did I ever do to you!" she wailed.

"Did you think I was that stupid? I grew up, Sarah. I now know that you were using me just to get your way."

"Ed, you did those to protect me."

"Well, I'm done protecting you now. No more 'Ed, do this.' I'm sorry. I can't protect you anymore. Now if you excuse me, I have to go meet Double D."

Out of desperation, Sarah picked up the Smith and Wesson revolver from off the ground and put it to her head.

"Don't make me, Ed! I'll do it!" Sarah wailed.

Ed didn't make a gesture and walked away.

Sarah finally realized it. She never had anyone. She was always alone; the only person paying attention to her was her mom. And she was as dumb as rocks. She never had a gang, she never had a clique. Those weren't even her friends. She began to pull the trigger…

The gun clicked. No bullets left. Sarah looked ahead toward the fading figure of her brother and decided she needed to look after herself for once. She grabbed her day pack and began to run. Out of nowhere, her collar began to beep. She didn't hear the beep as she was too determined to survive.

The sound of a distant gunshot crashed against Sarah's ears. The only thing was there weren't any gunshots going off. Her collar had gone off…

She had accidentally wandered into a danger zone.

….

Double D had made it to his destination. While he was waiting for his comrades to come by, he decided to check his surroundings. The lake was clear as a crystal, even in the moonlight. Double D looked out towards the woods that he had entered from, and he noticed how menacing it looked. Huge trees and big, billowing leaves began to form.

After Double D got done with his trance, he looked at his book and took out his flashlight.

"Alright, let's look at that book. We'll see what we can find." Double D said.

Double D opened the book and inside was information about several types of herbs, learning to make spears out of sticks and learning how to make fires.

"Wow! This is actually pretty interesting."

Double D began to learn how to make spears and small punji stakes, and began to learn how to make fires and use woods to his advantage.

"I won't be needing all of this. I just need to learn how to use this piece of wood."

Double D looked at the piece of paper and saw the section where it told all about it. He began to learn to new things, things he didn't know about in the past.

"Wow! I've really missed out on this stuff! A genius isn't a genius without knowledge of how to defend himself."

While Double D was rubbing his nose in his book, he heard a rustling in the woods.

"Hello? Who's there?"

….

Johnny's close call almost cost him his life. He hadn't stopped running after that incident. Those kids got him thinking. He needed to find Eddy fast. Some kids were playing this game and wouldn't stop until they won. Johnny knew he wasn't playing the game, but he needed to team up with someone. Or else…or else his head would be someone's trophy.

"Just thinking about it gives me the creeps." Says Johnny.

Johnny eventually stopped. He saw an old abandoned cabin in the woods and decided that it would a great place to hunker down. He jumped through an empty window and landed on one knee.

"Hello? Is anybody here?" said Johnny.

No sound. Johnny finally had some peace and quiet. He closed the window and shut the blinds and made sure that the doors were locked. Johnny sat down in a chair and breathed a sigh of relief. He would be safe…for now.

Johnny took his match book and struck a match. He decided to look around the place, to get a better idea of his surroundings. He found it was like a hunter's cabin, Trophies of animals everywhere. The heads creeped him out and he quickly threw them out the window.

After Johnny was done patrolling the house, he took out another match and lit up a cigarette. His shot nerves began to relax, and he felt like his old self again. Johnny's eyes began to feel heavy, but he kept on smoking. After he felt the cigarette hit the filter, he put it out on the floor. Johnny began to yawn and walked into the bedroom. He got under the sheets and quickly drifted off to sleep.

…3:15

Eddy woke with a start and sat up. He looked up and saw Nazz sleeping beside him. Eddy looked at the moon. He guessed it was about three o' clock, and he needed to go find Double D.

"Hey, Nazz. Wake up." Says Eddy.

"Huh…what?" said Nazz, sleepily.

"I forgot that we needed to go see Double D. I lost track of time."

Nazz jumped up with a surprised face, as she too lost track of time. They looked at the map. Where they were, it would be another fifteen minutes if they ran the whole way.

"Nazz, we're right here. If we take a straight route through here, through the woods, it would be a sure shot that would meet Double D, and hopefully Ed.

"Yeah, but how do we actually know he'll be there. What if he turned into somebody who'll play this game? Or…he's…he's…"

"Dead? Well, we'll have to try at least." Assured Eddy.

Nazz gave a weary nod and got up. Taking Eddy's hand, they began to run toward the lake.

After a while, Eddy and Nazz began to see the beach and saw a figure, which they assumed was Double D.

They made a rustling noise with the brush to get his attention.

"Hello? Who's there?" said Double D.

"It's me. Hope you don't mind I brought a friend."

Eddy and Nazz climbed out of the bushes and Double D ran up to Eddy and gave him a brotherly embrace. Eddy was confused onto what it was, but he decided to hug him back.

"I see you brought Nazz." Said Double D.

"Had to. Had no choice." Explained Eddy.

"Well, it doesn't matter now. What matters is that you're here."

"Yeah. Good. Did you see Ed?"

Double D gave Eddy a shocked look.

"Uh…uh…"

"What? Did you see him?"

"That is our problem. I haven't seen him since we left school."

"Oh, no…"


	8. The Search Completed

The shock Eddy had started to feel began to well up so you can see it on his face. He began to shake Double D, who had also felt shock and froze like a statue?

"You sure you didn't see him? Please, tell me!" said Eddy.

"I haven't seen him since we left the school. I told him to meet me at this point. It was a sure ways walk toward here. Do you think he might've gotten lost?"

"Well, we know he's alive since we didn't hear him in the announcements a while ago. But, he might've been murdered after the announcements…."

The word _murder_ bounced around in Eddy's mind.

"Don't think that, Eddy! He's a big boy; he can take care of himself."

"Yeah, but who knows? Maybe the Kanker Family got him."

"I told you, he's a big boy. He'll be fine."

"Ok." Eddy said, sort of relieved. "Stop calling him a big boy, I might think this whole game might've turned you gay."

Eddy and Nazz nervously laughed, while Double D began to turn red with irritation.

"Look, I'm sorry, ok. I just wanted to lighten the mood."

"Fine," says Double D. "I accept your apology. But, we have to find Ed. Who knows where he might be."

"Eddy, we have to." Said Nazz.

Eddy began to look at Nazz, then back at Double D. He couldn't stand choices. He contemplated, should he stay here and wait or go look for him?

As Eddy tried to decide what to do, a familiar voice began to be heard.

"Hey guys! I made it!"

It was Ed. He had finally made it. The big lug had made it to the meeting point. Eddy and Double D began to run full speed towards their friend.

It had felt like an eternity since they saw Ed. The run towards him felt like they had run a hundred miles and Eddy finally felt a feeling he hadn't felt in years. Happiness, true happiness. He never thought that he would actually miss the mono brow but he had finally happened. He finally got to meet his-

Eddy snapped out of his bliss as he heard the sound of gunfire ring against his ears. The bullets sounded like a typewriter, writing away for some brilliant story. Double D also began to witness the boy with the one big eyebrow crash against the ground.

…

Near the sound of distant gunfire, a boy and a girl, hand in hand, began to look out towards the sky and watched the moon turn into a beautiful white marble.

The boy was Male Student No. 10, the only non-clique student at Peach Creek Junior high school and the girl was Female Student No. 10, and they held each other, bodies together as if they were one person.

"You're so pretty, you know that?" said the boy.

"I'll only believe it if you make me believe." Said the girl.

And with that, the two kissed. And with it, they felt like they became one with the other.

"I believe it. I believe it now."

The boy pulled a handgun from his pocket. It was a Beretta M9. The girl pulled another gun from her skirt pocket. It was a Colt M1. They looked at each other, each grimacing as they thought of their plan.

They stopped the feeling of rejection, sadness and hurt on what they were going to do, and instead replaced it with euphoria, as they pulled each other together with one last kiss.

The boy pulled the trigger first, and the girl came next. Their bodies did a forbidden love dance and they died in each other's arms.

…

Johnny Martinez woke up with a start. He hadn't gotten much sleep, only about fifteen minutes, for he heard gunshots going off, like a typewriter. He heard the scream of a familiar voice ringing through the atmosphere. It sounded like Eddy, and he sounded close.

Johnny pulled on his clothes and rushed through the door. He ran with what his tired legs could carry. He came across the body of Male Student No. 11, who had apparently hung himself and the branch snapped after he went limp. Inside his pocket was a Walther PPK and he also found a can? It seemed the can was his designated weapon, because he saw that boy picking up cans off the street. He grabbed the gun and took off.

…

When he finally reached the beach, he saw Eddy and Double D trying to drag what seemed to be Ed's lifeless body to the beach. When he looked to his left, he saw the attacker in the distance. It was the kid he met earlier in the house and he had a MAC-10 in his hand.

Without thinking, Johnny began to fire shots at him, trying to make him stop. It didn't faze him one bit, but he had switched targets and began firing at him. Johnny rolled out of the way and quickly began to fire away.

"Eddy! Listen to me!" yelled Johnny.

"Johnny, is that you?" yelled Nazz.

"Eddy, where is he shot?" Johnny asked.

"Left leg, up high." Said Eddy.

"Shit…well, put pressure on the wound, and then wrap it with something."

"How do you know all this?" Eddy asked.

"Can't talk; still busy trying to save your asses! Just do what I said."

Eddy began doing what he was told to do. Johnny knew his gun was about to run low, so he began using his bullets wisely, looking for his mark on the boy. However, the boy was fast, and he somehow had seen the bullets coming.

As he began to come closer, Johnny threw the empty gun at the boy's face. He then began to run at him with the last of his stamina and tackled him to the ground. They began to wrestle and Johnny began to feel tired. His legs began to feel heavier and heavier and he knew that if he didn't do something fast, he would die.

Thinking that he might still be able to help them, he threw the boy off of him and onto a small rock, which seemed to knock him out. Johnny began to head towards the others and grabbed Ed and threw his arm around his shoulder.

"Eddy, help me pick him up!" said Johnny.

"What, what did you say?" said Eddy.

"For Christ's sake, didn't you hear me? I said help him up."

As Eddy began to pick up Ed, the five began to run away to find some place safe.

….

After a minimum of ten minutes, they had finally reached a piece of road. It was the same road that led to a camping site in the other side of the reservation. They had found a cabin to hunker down in.

Eddy sat in the far right corner of the cabin, with Johnny, Double D, Nazz and Ed slumped down along the window. Eddy reached into his day pack and pulled the pipe and tobacco bag out. Johnny handed him a match and took out another cigarette himself.

"I thought you didn't smoke big head." Said Eddy.

"Hey, short round, if you thought living with parents that hurt you a lot didn't get to you; think about if you didn't have any parents at home at all." Johnny said, with a calm and content voice.

"Geez, I didn't think your life was like that at all."

Johnny chuckled and lit the cigarette.

"Besides, I don't smoke that much at all. I'm more of a social smoker." Said Johnny.

"I see. You've only smoked two in this whole entire game." Said Eddy.

"Like I said, I'm a social smoker."

Ed began to groan and moan and eventually woke up. He touched his leg and began to wince.

"Don't touch it, Ed. With any luck, it might get infected."

"Oh, no. I'm turning into the Evil brain sucking mutants from area 69."

The others began to laugh and felt good about themselves.

"Lucky for us, they gave us small medical kits in our bags."

"How did you know that?" Johnny asked Double D.

"While you two were smoking, like fools, I looked through my day pack and found this."

It was a small medical kit. It contained most of the stuff that would be needed for medical incidents. The others searched through their bags to find nothing but their regular stuff.

"How did you get a first aid kid and we didn't?" Eddy said, in an irritated tone.

"Uh…I don't know…it must have been a glitch in the system. I doubt that anybody would be lucky to find this in their pack."

"So, you'll be the only one with the only first aid kit in this huge reservation?" Said Johnny. "If word gets out about that, your head will be the highest on the kill list."

"With that being said, I don't think we should trust you, Johnny." Said Nazz.

"Whoa, whoa whoa. I just saved your asses back there. Is that enough for you."

The others contemplated this as they wondered what to do.

"And, I taught you how to save Ed's life."

"Yeah, but did it have to go with ripping my shirt."

"Would you have rather have him dead back there?"

"…you're ok."

The group began to simmer down and they decide to check the cabin. Ed, feeling hungry, checked the cabin's kitchen. Ed found nothing but baked beans in the fridge, but checking the cabinets, he found crackers and bread. Not to mention he found peanut butter and jelly.

"Guys, check this out." Said Ed.

The others quickly got up and went towards the kitchen themselves. They quickly gasped and felt their stomachs rumble.

Eddy yelled "Pay dirt!" while Nazz cheered and hugged both Eddy and Double D, Johnny crossed his arms and a satisfied smile went across his face.

While they feasted on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, some beans and some saltine crackers, they began to talk, their mouths still full.

"So Johnny," said Double D. "What made you find us? I'm pretty sure it wasn't by coincidence-"

"Well, I was trying to find you guys in the first place."

"Why's that?" asked Ed.

"Well, I was hoping you guys could help me. I thought we could survive this thing together."

"Well, we have three days." Said Eddy. "I don't think we could survive with each other for that long."

"Well, I thought we could survive this long for at least the last night, then we could go our separate ways. I mean, we might die tomorrow."

That got the group thinking. They only had three days until they needed a winner. They couldn't survive together for that long, because if that happened, their collars would explode. No winner, no one goes home.

"Well, we will find a way to survive together, Johnny." Said Ed.

"How, we have three days, and these god damn collars…"

"We have faith. Faith can help us."

"When did God get into the picture?" said Eddy.

"Not faith in God, Eddy." Said Double D. "Faith in each other. Without faith in each other, we would've killed each other right now."

Eddy began to ponder on that. Without Nazz as his driving force and his friends as his back up, he wouldn't survive without them. He might as well have been dead as soon as he walked out of the school.

"I'm tired, guys." Said Nazz. "I think I might go to sleep."

"Me too." Said Johnny. "Might as well hit the sack anyway."

The others went and found a place to sleep. Johnny began to feel tired, but at the same time, he felt happy he had found the right people to survive with. He realized that his driving force were his friends. As they all went to sleep, Johnny felt a smile cross his face.

"I swear on it," Johnny thought to himself. "Whatever it takes, we will survive together…"

_We will survive together…we will survive together…we will survive together…_


	9. The Firefight

…6:00

"Hello, everyone!" said Mr. Hardwick.

The sound of his voice came from everywhere, so it must've woken up most of the students.

"Time to list off the student deaths. First is Female Student No.10, followed by Male No 10. Next, is May, Marie, and Lee Kanker. Then there's Male No. 11, next is Sarah Burkins. Next is the Male Students No. 22, 24 and Female Students 22, 23, 24. Finally, there's Male Student No. 21 and 23. Good Luck out there. Oh and one more thing, the danger zones are A-1 at 7:00, G-7 at 7:30, B-8 at 8:00 and F-4 at 8:10. Fight hard, little warriors."

…

Rolf Kirkenshire had been awake all night, modifying his weapon. He had begun sharpening small rocks and sticking them it the top of his whip. The former quiet farm boy had started to become a ruthless killer, his envy of his supposed 'rival' beginning to brew even more.

"I shall destroy this strongest in the fair lands Ed boy. I will be the strongest." He said.

Rolf didn't count on the Kanker stalking him. It was the same Kanker that had attacked Johnny and the others hours before. His brain suffered a contusion, and the formerly arrogant, face loving, sociopathic Kanker had become a boy without emotion. He didn't care that his face would be torn to shreds, he only thought about his next kill.

Rolf sensed his stalker behind him and lashed his whip towards him. He dodged it and grabbed it. He began to pull Rolf towards him, and Rolf began to pull away from him. Rolf's determination began to pay off, and he dragged him to his body. Eventually, he hip tossed him and came down with an elbow drop. The boy rolled out of the way, and pulled his switchblade from his pocket. He held it to Rolf's neck and said,

"Don't make me kill you."

"It is you, the good looking Kanker boy, that should be watching your life."

"Whose life is in my hands now?" he said.

"The question is, what do you want?" Rolf said.

"I ran into those Eds you spoke so highly of in school." The boy said in a cold, monotonous tone. "That Johnny kid defended them like he was defending a prize."

"Huh, why would the big headed, stick carrying bumpkin be defending that rat mother Ed boy?" Rolf asked.

"I don't know. But one thing's for sure. If you come with me, I'll assure to you, you will destroy them."

"Give Rolf one reason he should not kill where you stand?" said Rolf.

"If I wanted to kill you, I would've already. And why would I be feeding you information if your not going to take it?" the boy asked, his cold tone of voice not stuttering.

"You're good. Fine, Rolf will aid you on this quest. But, make sure Rolf goes for the biggest one."

"Whatever."

Rolf began to follow the boy through the mud and thick, still modifying his whip.

…

Eddy and the others woke with a start. They began to write off the danger zones and crossed off the names killed. With fourteen students killed, counting off the one from the day before, forty three kids were still stuck on that island.

Ed woke up, still half asleep and still trying to doze off the small pain in his leg. He began to walk around and began to straighten his posture, fixing his limp and straightening his back. He began to do push ups to wake himself up.

Nazz and Double D began to pace the floor, trying to make a game plan. There were five of them in one group, making them one of the largest on the planet, or at least they felt like it.

"Guys, I think we have a problem." said Double D.

"Spit it out." said Eddy.

"There's too many in our group. With five of us, we're probably going to attract more attention." said Nazz.

"Relax guys," said Johnny. "There's forty three students left on this island. There's got to be bigger groups than that…"

Ed began to speak up,

"Guys, I think we're really low on food." said Ed.

The others looked and saw the cabinet and fridge was completely empty. They looked at Ed in a fit of irritation.

"Ed, were you sleep eating again?" said Double D.

"I swear guys, it wasn't me." Ed contradicted, although Ed's stomach began to growl, indicating he had gotten into the food supply. Ed began to do a nervous chuckle and began to sweat.

"Ed, we needed that food." Said Nazz.

"I'm sorry guys, but you know, old habits die young." Ed said.

"Ed, you're mixing your words again." Double D said.

"You get my point."

As the other contemplated what to do, Johnny spoke up.

"Well, we can't stay here forever. We might not know if it'll become a danger zone. If we don't know, we'll die."

"I know. But, we can't go out there yet. I mean, he still might be out there." Eddy said.

"Well, we'll have to take our chances. He might be out there, he might not. We can't be cooped up here."

"Fine, but where will we go?" said Nazz.

Johnny pulled out his map and put it on the table in the middle of the cabin.

"Look, we're right here, in G-4. If we move up north, to the residential area, where I came from, we would be in D-6. So, our best bet is we'll have to move northwest, even though it's probably crawling with students-"

"Shh…you hear that?" said Double D.

When the group listened closely, the heard the distant sound of gunfire in the background, followed by a large explosion. It wasn't a grenade, but it was louder.

The others turned around and saw flames coming from the east side of the reservation. Something was going on there, and it didn't sound good.

…

On the east side of the reservation, in the fishing docks, a huge gunfight was heard. Terry McGee, the older brother of Eddy McGee and the girl Loners (Females No. 14, 9, and 21) were fighting the rest of the Jocks (Students No. 15, 16, 17, 20).

The battle raged for quite a while, and the Loners were losing ground.

"Terry!" yelled one of the girls.

"Yeah!" Terry yelled back.

"Are you sure you know that you're doing with that?" she said.

"Are you kidding, this fucking piece of metal is an extension of my arm." Terry explained, boastfully smiling as he pulled the shotgun's trigger, taking out one of the Jocks.

The girls had hidden most of the fight, usually taking bursts of fire or shooting one bullet at a time. They feared for their life and they took cover behind the crates in the warehouse.

One of the Jocks had a crossbow, while the others picked up weapons from the dead tributes they had found dead. When they ran out of ammo, they resorted to firing single shots, like them, and when they finally ran out, they started throwing rocks at them.

One of the girls, feeling bold decided to stand up, with Terry. She had always had a crush on him, and usually looked up to him. She saw him as a huge boulder, no one could push him or move him, and he was her special boulder. Feeling the time to confess her feelings, she shouted over the sound of gunfire.

"Terry!" she yelled.

"What?" he yelled back.

She hesitated for a moment and finally said,

"I've always had a crush on you! You're my favorite person in the world!"

Terry made a smug expression, and the expression lasted a long time, making him lose sight of the battle. He gets hit in the shoulder with a bolt and gets another in the head.

"AH!" she screams.

She pulls up the others and forces them to fight. They too, get smashed in the head with rocks or bolts into their chests. When she finally sees a gas drum, she doesn't take a moment to hesitate and shoots the barrel, making a chain reaction with the barrels around her, exploding.

The girl only has the time to smile before her and her enemies were blown to bits…


	10. Georgetown all over again

…

The fire in the background began to billow bigger and bigger, as it began to spread wider and wider. The warehouse where the gunfight started began to crumble, the sheet metal becoming hotter and hotter. The corpses lying on the floor began to cook, turning the once innocent smile into a psychotic snarl. In the background, the team called 'Rolf and Kanker', stood in the distance, examining the scenery.

"Fire is always beautiful." Says the Kanker.

"I agree, non-repulsive looking Kanker boy. In my homeland, we always burn the dead on Yeshmiyek's date of death." Said Rolf.

"I don't need a lecture on your 'homeland'," said the Kanker. "We just need to look for the-"

"Look, right here." Rolf said.

The Kanker looked on the ground and noticed Rolf crouching.

"Yeshmiyek is speaking to me."

"Cut the bullshit, farm boy. What are you talking about?" asked the Kanker.

"She says that the Ed boys that we're searching for, are that way." And Rolf points north.

"I could've spotted that easily." Said the Kanker.

"She brought me the smell cologne. Although it has stuck to the cloth from the cologne resides."

"Really? That's interesting. I smell it, too."

"It is a miracle that we could smell it through the scent of burning Ed boy."

The duo picked up the scent and followed through with their instinct. The thoughts running through Rolf's mind began to race, the thought of killing the supposed 'idiot Ed boy, my enemy' ran through his head beginning to make more and more sense. Already, he was becoming a slave to his own mind, losing more and more of his sanity all the way.

…

"Eddy, do you really have to shower now?" complained Nazz.

"Yeah, I would like to have a shower once in a while, Nazz. We're lucky they didn't shut off the water here, the only downside is it's an outdoor shower!" said Eddy.

Eddy had found out the water at the cabin still worked and had decided to take a shower. He had taken at least half an hour, since his greedy side had surfaced again. He took his time with the shower, not caring who saw him.

Johnny had been inside the cabin, sitting on a window sill, smoking another cigarette. He had smoked only four cigarettes in the whole game, he had been surprised that he had smoked that many. He had also been on watch after that explosion, because his instinct started telling him somebody was coming. He felt it in his stomach, and it welled up in his brain had also felt it, giving him a small headache.

"Eddy, stop wasting your time on that damn shower!" yelled Johnny.

"Relax Big Head. I'll be out in a second." Eddy shouted back.

"A second could be your life, now get out!" said Johnny.

"Geez, when did you become the big leader?"

"Just get in here." Said Double D.

Eddy was surprised that Double D had taken his side, so he grumbled and quickly dried off. He then grabbed his clothes, which were hanging on the window sill Johnny was sitting on, and grabbed his pipe and began to smoke.

Ed was doing crunches on the side of his bed. He noticed the Eddy was smoking out of a pipe, which got him intrigued and questionable. After his one hundredth crunch, he walked up to him and asked,

"Why do you smoke, Eddy?"

"Didn't I tell you? My brother used to pick on me." Eddy responded.

"Yeah well, that's probably not the only reason." Ed said, naively.

"Why do you want to know? It's not important."

"Well…you always have a look behind your eyes, Eddy." Said Double D.

"Yeah, so do you Johnny." Said Nazz.

The boys looked at each other in disbelief, as if they had been asked a stupid question.

"Eddy, if you don't tell us why you're smoking, we'll keep pestering you about it until you do. Same goes for you Johnny." Said Double D.

Eddy took one big drag from the pipe and blew a huge smoke cloud. Johnny did blew O's from his mouth simultaneously.

"Ok, I'll say my story first." Says Eddy.

The group leaned close in, like children at story time at school.

"Hmm…well, I was born to abusive parents. They would beat me every other Friday, or smack me across the head or face if I did something wrong. They didn't care that I'd been to juvie. Not to mention, my older brother used to pick on me and they didn't do jack shit. I eventually had enough of it, and I ran out of the house and didn't look back. Later that night, I ran into this cool son of a bitch who said he'd give me cigarettes. My favorite is Morlbarry, but I've been smoking out of this damn pipe I forgot the taste."

The others looked at each other, and gave Eddy a sorrowful look, like they were saying sorry.

"Okay, Johnny-boy, your turn."

Johnny let out a sad sigh and told his story.

"Well, I too was born into a broken house. Except my parents didn't beat me, they usually got drunk and didn't come home until early in the morning. I would usually get picked on at school when I was little, before I think we were classmates. After my nose broke, I realized how annoying I was. So, I hooked up with some guy who said he could calm my nerves. He gave me a pack of Moll Tolls and a lighter, and I've been smoking ever since."

The others gave an equally sorrowful look.

"Well," said Double D. "You guys aren't that much different, I guess."

"Yeah, but don't think for a second we became friends at the start." Said Eddy.

"Yeah, remember that fight we had in the bathroom?" said Johnny.

"Oh yeah, like it was yesterday. I also remember we skipped school the next day."

The boys began to laugh, feeling a new sense of friendship and camaraderie. They high five each other, while the others gave a confused look.

"Ha-ha, those were good times. We made up after we stole basically half a convenience store."

They began to laugh even harder, Eddy began to shed one single tear, which he carefully wiped away.

"Look, guys. Sorry if we made ourselves look like psychopaths, but if were hardcore 'juvenile delinquents' like us, you would understand."

Ed began to laugh as if he understood, which added to the laughter going through the air, while Double D and Nazz just stood there, confused.

The camaraderie began to die down, but Johnny and Eddy felt good that they were still friends, not minding that there were two kids outside their cabin, watching them from afar…

…

"Welcome, Kanker Family." Said the oldest Kanker.

"Hello!" said the family.

"Glad we're here today. This is the greatest family reunion ever since we kicked that bastard Uncle Charlie to the curb. Needless to say, the curb kicked him back."

The family laughed at the joke, since their Uncle Charlie was a real bastard. He thought he was the king of the Kankers, until his nephews and nieces beat him up and left him in the street. The family began to pound on the table in front of them, letting the wine shake and fall out of their glasses.

"Damn it, guys. We're wasting good wine." Said the Kanker in the back.

"Guess what…" said the eldest Kanker, who signaled the others to join in.

"WE DON'T GIVE A SHIT!" they all replied, and they kept on laughing and talking to each other. They felt a good sense of brotherhood and family bonding, a thing they hadn't felt in years.

"But, actually he's right. Let's get this over with, huh? Then we can all go home."

The others grabbed their wine glasses, and raised them high.

The eldest raised his glass, and with a dim look in his eyes, he said,

"Here's to family."

The others repeated what he said, and downed the wine. They hugged each other, kissed their sisters, bro-hugged their brothers and pounded fists with their cousins. Within a matter of minutes, the Kanker family was writhing on the floor, all of their faces a dark purple, with veins sticking out from their faces.

The wine had been poisoned with cyanide, but it didn't matter to him. The family had all been on the plan, because their psyche had broken a long time ago, but their sense of family hadn't died. The bodies had all been positioned close to each other, to make sure that wherever they were going, Hell or Heaven, they would go together…

_**Author's note: **Sorry, the chapter's so short. I'm feeling kind of tired. I promise, there will be more deaths, more action, more love, etc. in the next chapter._


	11. The Game Plan

…6:00

"Hello everyone!" the speakers rang out loud.

"Here's the list of deaths….Wow, we have a lot. There's the whole Kanker family, except one, Terry McGee (Male Student No. 24), Females No. 14, 9 and 21, and Male and Female Students 15, 16, 17, 20. That leaves us with forty two students left. You better hurry up, because the game will end tomorrow. Now, here are the danger zones for now. At 8:00 it will be A-10, E-14, D-9, G-18, C-12 and D-14. Good luck out there."

And with that, the announcements ended.

…

Eddy had finished half of the tobacco bag, and had been sitting outside of the door for at least an hour. Johnny had been sitting up in the window sill, trying to resist the urge to smoke a cigarette, and it began to pay off. He became more aware, his cigarette buzz had worn off and his senses were heightened. Double D and Nazz were hanging out, getting to know each other a little bit, while Ed had begun doing bear crawl pushups across the floor.

"Ed, stop working out before you bust a muscle." Said Johnny.

"I can't guys, it's like something's controlling the insides of my mushy brain."

Double D and Nazz began to chuckle, seeing Ed writhing on the ground, thinking he had an alien inside his brain. Nazz began to sit up from her table and walked toward the door.

"Where are you going?" said Double D.

"I'm going to hang out with Eddy." Nazz said.

Double D got back to his half finished crossword puzzle book and went into a state of utter concentration.

Nazz opened the door, and squeezed her way through. Eddy had begun to scoot down a little bit, and let Nazz through without anymore trouble.

"May I sit next to you?" asked Nazz.

"Okay, but watch your back." Eddy said, jokingly.

Nazz chuckled again, and Johnny looked towards them. Using his fingers, he began to wolf whistle, receiving a small pebble to his forehead. He fell backwards, rubbing his head where the pebble made contact. The redness left after a while, but a small head ache began to form around his head.

Eddy laughed and finally put his pipe in his pocket. He leaned against the door while he let out a sigh mixed with a laugh. Eddy began to realize everyone had been laughing for at least an hour now. Any brief moment that stopped them from laughing was essential, as they might have died of laughter.

When the announcements came through, the laughter stopped. They listened closely, and crossed off the Kanker family except one, which they find out his name, Alistair Kanker. Next came the firefight victims, first starting with Terry McGee, Eddy's brother and chaperone. After his name was announced, Eddy dropped his pencil and paper and then his map, but after a few seconds, he came back and got a calm but angry look on his face. He began to cross off the other victims, while the others looked at Eddy in disbelief.

"Eddy, what's the matter?" said Double D.

All Eddy said was one word and it shook the others, "Good."

"How is it good? He's your brother!" said Nazz.

"I told you he picked on me." Eddy said.

"Well, shouldn't that be just older brother teasing his younger brother."

"If I got into details, it would take a million years." Eddy said.

"Well, at least tell us a little bit about it." Ed pleaded.

"Great…another story…well kids, gather 'round. When he picked on me, he didn't just do the brotherly rivalry, he used to jump in when my parents would beat me. One day, it went all too far. We were walking, and these older kids came towards us. I was eight and he was eleven, and I asked him to help me. All he did was he push me into the group of kids and they beat me within an inch of my life. All he did was walk away. He didn't lift a fucking finger."

The others realized that Eddy's background was more than meets the eye. They then began to tell them one by one they were sorry, except Johnny who had been minding his own business with Eddy's machete and fixing his own pocket knife. They all looked towards him, expecting him to look at them, but he sat there comparing blades.

"Johnny, aren't you going to hear this?" said Ed.

"Hear it? Shit, I've been through it. His brother pushed me into the same group of guys Eddy's been describing. Hell, he joined on it. So, it's official. A stone cold man bitch like him deserves to die like that."

"Hell yeah, we're glad he's dead." Eddy said, and he soul brother shook his hand.

Double D decided to change the subject, fearing that if they kept acting like this, they would become animals.

"Well, the whole Kanker family's gone. That only leaves that Alistair boy. I heard he's become something beyond a sociopath."

"A psycho." Eddy and Johnny said together.

"I was getting to that. Anyway, Johnny had two encounters with him. One, he was by himself. The other was when he was helping us out. That means, he'll probably on our trail. If we're unlucky, he might've allied with someone. I mean some of us might be playing this game, just like him."

"Well, we'll be lucky if he's kill him or her already." Eddy says.

Johnny butts in, "He won't care about you guys. He'll come at me definitely. I did something I can't remember but I'll be his major target."

"Yeah, so we have to be careful about him. We don't any of us getting hurt." Nazz explained.

"It's best that we start a game plan now." Eddy says, in a serious tone.

"Let us form a plan to attack this evil monster from the bowels of Hades' underwear, and reign supreme in the battle for our lives." Ed busted out.

"You're an idiot Ed." Eddy said, and went back to the drawing board with the others.

…

Rolf and Alistair had been walking through the reservation, making sure they avoided the danger zones and making sure they took out anybody that stood in their way. When the announcements that all the Kanker family had been killed, Rolf looked to his partner with a gruff face that signaled that they should investigate, but Alistair shook his head.

"Why can we not look for your lost family, not pimple ridden Kanker boy?" Rolf asked.

"They were a bunch of sorry losers to begin with. I didn't care for any of them." Alistair responded.

Rolf looked puzzled but stopped caring after they saw a gang of non-clique students.

"Well, well, well. Looks like we have fresh bait guys." Said the leader.

There were ten kids in the gang; all wore tribal markings with what seemed like blood, berry juice and mud. The rest of them jumped out of their hiding places in the woods. They circled the duo and clasped their weapons, the weapons ranging from pots and pans to knives to clubs and guns. The leader walked up to Alistair with an Uzi in his hand, pointing the barrel to his chin.

"You think you're so tough, huh Kanker? Look at us! We could take you down in an instant." The leader spoke out.

Alistair remained silent, but Rolf decided to speak up.

"As you Americans would say it 'beat it before we beat…you…up…'." says Rolf.

"We don't say that shit, we say 'bust a cap in your ass'. Since you spoke up first, we'll be seeing you don't speak again…good night, princess."

Rolf closed his eyes and heard the burst of bullets, but neither hit him. He opened his eyes and saw his ally hip tossing the leader, his finger not letting go of the trigger. The burst of gun fire blasted half of the group, leaving them in a heap in the dirt. He then snapped the gunman's neck and stole his gun. Rolf saw a chance to attack and grabbed his spiked whip and lashed it out at three of the group. The whip made its mark on their throats, and they eventually died of blood loss. The duo then jumped on the rest and stylishly killed the rest. They then made a pose, Rolf with his hand on his hip and his whip dangling in his left hand, and Alistair got on one knee, and crossed his gun hand across his chest.

Feeling awesome, Rolf held his hand up in the air for a high-five, but Alistair just walked away, leaving Rolf to catch up.

…

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" said a girl.

A five girl group had been standing above the corpse of a lifeless ally, the face filled with purple fluid and the eyes rolled back. The victim had succumbed to poisoning, leaving the group discussing who did it. The girls pulled their guns on each other, and a huge Mexican standoff started.

"No one's getting out of here alive until we find out who killed her!" said the leader.

"Well, you're suspicious yourself; you've been standing up there on the roof for hours." Said the girl on her right.

"Oh my God, are you that stupid? I'm taking watch." She said.

"Yeah, but you've always stood up there, even after your shift is over."

"So what? Can't I get a little alone time." She yelled.

"Cut the crap! You did it, didn't you?" the girl in the thick glasses said.

"Oh, I did it. I suppose you're one to talk. You've been by yourself in that damn chair ever since we got here! You think you might've been completely innocent if we didn't find out."

"You always point to me when something goes wrong. Well, your bitch face won't be doing that anymore now!" she yelled, and she pulled the trigger.

In a matter of minutes, a gunfight ensued. They began taking sides, each one picking each other off like they were playing a video game, they didn't care. When the gunfire died down, one person remained alive. She crawled towards the girl standing in the corner, who in turn stomped on the back of her neck, severing her spinal column killing her instantly.

The girl turned around with an insane smile on her beautiful face, a bottle of cyanide in her hand. She grabbed the guns and walked casually out the door.


	12. The Confrontation

…7:30

A huge circle of dust stood in the middle of a wooded area, the circle looking like it was manmade, not looking like it was there in the first place. In the circle stood about two groups of kids. They all had completely lost their sanity, as they both were on their knees and knuckles, acting like a bunch of gorillas. They stood on each side of the circle, grunting and snarling.

Speaking in tongue, the leader of the other group said, "It seems you same to actually fight."

The other leader said, "I always honor my challenges. I never thought you'd come."

"I always come when someone calls me." The leader said.

"Whatever. What do you say we get this over with?" The opponent said.

The others began jumping and shouting war cries, and they charged at each other with all their strength. On the left side of the circle, the others readied themselves for the onslaught. The leaders went toward each other, and the grunts began attacking anyone in sight. The boys lunged at each other, biting and kicking as hard as he could. One of the boys' ears was bitten off and he in turn scratched his eye.

Within the hour, the two groups of five were laying together, their death struggle all in vain. And after all that, neither group knew that the relationship between them had snapped and never fastened.

…8:00

The group had gone to sleep, except Johnny and Eddy. The whole position had finally taken the toll on the boys, and they began to doubt that could actually survive. As they sat on the window sill watching the early morning sun go up high, Johnny took his cigarette pack and handed to Eddy. Eddy shook his head, and Johnny took a cigarette and a match. His fifth cigarette in the whole entire game, he took note in it and gave himself a small round of applause. When he was down to half the cigarette, Eddy spoke up.

"You know, we'll probably not survive the day." He said.

"What says we won't?" Johnny asked.

"I mean, we'll end up killing each other in the night."

This piqued Johnny's curiosity, and he got a sickening feeling inside his stomach. After about what seemed like a minute, he looked towards Eddy and said,

"You're not planning anything, are you?"

"No. I'm saying that if we're the last left, we'll have to kill each other. We won't have any choice. There's only one coming out."

"You're scaring me." Johnny said out loud.

"I don't mean to scare you. But, I'm just saying."

Johnny began to feel weird. Before he could say anything, Eddy grabbed his pocket knife and sliced his hand. He sliced Johnny's hand, but Johnny snatched his hand away, looking at him in disgust and horror. Before he could say anything, grabbed him and said,

"Trust me…"

Johnny let up and Eddy put his hand on his. Johnny looked up to see Eddy actually having tears coming down his face. But, he wasn't crying like he was scared or sad, but it was a determined face that meant he didn't think he'd survive the day.

"If I die, please…protect the group, especially Nazz. They're going to need you now, since you're good at this stuff."

Johnny was trying to understand the situation, and when he did, he nodded his head. Eddy then began to say,

"Me and the others did this when we realized that we were best friends. We promised that we'd never leave each other's side. Since you've done so much for us, I think you're an honorable Ed now."

Johnny finally felt accepted as Eddy's friend. He knew he was his friend, he just didn't feel like it. He finally felt like they were finally friends again. Johnny began to feel tears brimming in his eyes, and he brotherly embraced Eddy. Eddy returned it, but then pulled him away and said,

"Uh…what happens here stays back here, ok?"

Johnny felt a little weird about leaving it when they left, but nodded his head in agreement.

"To think, a Loner merges with an Ed today." Johnny says.

"Like I said, drop it." He said.

Johnny quickly shut his mouth, and wrapped his hand in a bandage and put his glove on it. Eddy did the same and they quickly woke the others up. It took Ed a while to wake him, because he was sound asleep. When they all woke up, they all sat at the table in the middle of the room. Eddy tapped Double D on the shoulder and asked,

"So, we've been here long enough. Where're we going?"

Double D pointed to the map and said,

"We're going back to the civilized area…and we're getting these things off…"

…

The girl who had poisoned her group had been running for two hours. The insane smile on her face didn't wither one bit, and she had been giggling all the time she was running. She seemed to be having fun thinking about the death inside that house on the beach. She began to think of who she was going to kill next. This blood hungry bitch, as she called herself, had been playing this game ever since it started, she just didn't kill anyone yet.

She finally stopped to take a rest. She began crossing off names by random, deciding to look for them later in the day. While she was crossing off names, she heard the cock of a gun behind her head.

"Well, well well…if it isn't the bitch who made my sister into one of your dolls." Said the girl.

The other girl looked around, seeing one of her classmates and three others behind her. She had bullied all three of them, and made one of their sisters her personal slave. When she saw she couldn't take them head on, she pretended to go weak in the knees.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean to do all of that." She said, pretending to be scared.

"Don't bullshit me. You've been on our asses ever since we came to Peach Creek in fifth grade. You didn't let up one bit."

"I swear, I didn't mean it." She began to say, pretending to cry.

"Oh, boo-hoo…I know people like you. How you pretend you're so sorry…ha! It's not getting to me."

"What should I do to get you to forgive me? Beg? Crawl on my knees!"

The girls looked at each other and then the leader said,

"We'd like to see that…but it won't be the only thing."

With that, she got on her knees and pretended to beg. She pretended as best as she could, feeling glad that she took those acting classes, and kept on begging until she felt like she really was. She felt them let up their grip on their weapons, and she saw the chance to strike. She then began to grab the leader's arms and struggled with her for her weapon. She kneed her in the stomach, and flipped over her back and stole her weapon. She fired on the other girls, each bullet hitting their mark and then finally went towards the leader. She began to kick her, her insane smile on her face growing wider and wider, and she finally stomped on her neck, like she did at the house, killing her instantly.

"Doesn't feel good to be kicked by this blood hungry bitch, isn't it?" she said, and she casually walked away, feeling an adrenaline rush go through her body.


	13. The New Battle

…

"We're going back to the civilized area…and we're getting these things off."

Double D's words brought much joy to the group. They knew Double D would find a way to get the collars off, since his mechanical genius was astounding. They once saw him take apart a toaster in his house for an experiment and then put it back together in the same time frame. So, they didn't have any doubts on him getting them off.

"If we can find some place with power tools there, I could have a look-see and get these things off. It might take me a while, and there's a risk that I might kill one of you, but we need to get off this island. Since Johnny knows the place better than us, he'll guide us through the place."

"I remember that I saw an auto mechanic's shop in the downtown area." Johnny explained, "If we can get there in time before it becomes a danger zone, better yet it wasn't a danger zone, and we'll be able to get to work."

"Fort A-la-ska here we go!" said Ed.

The others raised an eyebrow over what Ed just said, while he was running around with his arms behind his back, floating in the wind. The others then shook their heads and went back to planning.

"Now, if we go through here….it'll be just wide open space. We'll be eventually caught and slaughtered. Now, if we go through the back alleys, we can get through the back door, but it'll take us a while to see which building is which."

"Definitely." Nazz says.

With the plan all set, Double D folded the map back up and put it in his day pack.

"Looks like we got a plan." Eddy points out.

"I agree, we'll be out of this game in no time." Double D agrees.

"We've come this far, let's not back down now." Says Johnny.

And with that, they put their hands together, and on the count of three they threw their hands to the sky, hugging each other and patting them on the shoulder like a few soldiers going home. And they did feel like soldiers, with all they went through, the battle got to them quickly, so they felt glad they would go home.

…8:00

A grenade was thrown up in the air, in a free for all between eight people. Screams and shouts were being thrown in the air, and the sound of fists against skin, knives against flesh, and bombs in the sky was abundant. How they got to this point was by coincidence. They were all running from Rolf and Alistair, the same duo that took down a whole gang. They weren't all together, but from all sides, they saw the bloodbath go down. On suspicion that all of them were enemies, they immediately fought each other.

One girl's ear was bitten off and torn to pieces. One boy's neck was sliced through with a box cutter. The others had weapons that were of no use, such as a butter knife lying in the bush, a light bulb smashed on the ground and there were two or three bags of marbles, with the contents spilled out all over. What were left of the massacre were bloody bodies, some disemboweled, and others that seemed like they were mauled to death. The scavengers of the reservation knew they were in for a treat, and as soon as the massacre was over, they quickly began to make their meal.

…

Alistair Kanker, the only live and good looking Kanker left on the island, sat alone on a rock, while Rolf was testing his whip on a tree, immediately making it begin to sway. Alistair combed his hands through his long black hair. The Kanker had always been quiet and never spoke a word to his family, as he didn't care. But, he did still have feelings, just damaged feelings. After that blow to head with the boy named Johnny Martinez, his brain contused, but it healed in a matter of hours, since Alistair knew how to treat it although, it cost him his emotions, which were gone and never could come back. He hated his family, especially his three cousins, Lee Marie and May. They were so obnoxious, always talking about Ed Double D and Eddy, trying to fix their permanently crooked and multicolored teeth, and complaining about their hair, even though it was always a mess.

He still didn't care, because he knew they wouldn't survive the game, and they didn't.

"Rolf, are you still practicing?" said Alistair, in his signature cold and quiet tone.

"Rolf will be done testing his whip of ultimate power after you shut your goat hole." Rolf answered back.

The Kanker took notice of the insult, but didn't say anything back. He had a plan to kill him off later. He began to take note of his idiocy and his farm boy attitude had begun to displease him. His tendency to talk about Yeshmiyek was annoying, and his other tendency to talk to himself was extremely unpleasant.

To pass the time, Alistair looked over to Rolf and asked,

"Why are you after that Ed kid? He's nothing but a waste of time."

"Oh-ho-ho, you think he's such a time of waste, long haired Kanker boy, well he has a title that rightfully belongs to me."

"And what title is that?" he asked again.

"The title of strongest in the land." Rolf answered.

Alistair didn't feel like starting an argument, so he held his tongue and listened.

"The big bald headed Ed boy is known to be as strong as Nanna's dentures in the winter. He seems to lift bags of dirt as large as Pappa's rear. I should have that title and my glory will be obsolete."

Alistair also took note of his almost lack of sanity, but then again, who wasn't sane in this game, he thought.

"I deserve that title, and I will get it at any cost." Rolf yelled.

"Tell you what," says Alistair, "If we find them alive, you get Ed all to yourself. I'll take on his coward lackeys and we'll win this game once and for all."

"That sounds like a generous offer, and yes I accept." Says Rolf.

Rolf held his hand out to shake his hand, when suddenly a rustling was heard in the bushes. Out from the bushes was the girl who had killed her whole group, the same vacant look in her eyes as Alistair. Alistair recognized her and jumped from his seat.

"Nice to finally see you again, Alistair." She said.

Alistair circled the girl, and began to remember her name. Her name was Anastasia, and she ran an all girl gang that went to war with the Kankers. She had also had tried to be one of Alistair's partners, but his cold personality made him turn her down. His subsection of the Kanker family had previously had encounters with the gang. But, as the announcements said, they all killed each other in a mass suicide.

Alistair remained indifferent to the fact that she was lifting her miniskirt up and showing her legs, with a seductive look in her eyes. Anastasia was notorious around school, not only for being cruelly beautiful but she was known to be very violent. She had stabbed one boy in the back and it left a huge scar from his shoulder to his right hip. She had also tried to smooth talk her way to get to Eddy, and it almost worked until Ed gave away her position.

Seeing Alistair wasn't interested, she ran toward him with all her strength. Alistair went at top speed, too and they clashed. You could feel the brush shivering against wind, and blow after blow was dealt between the two. Rolf watched on, looking at the girl and seeing she was Alistair's match.

They were a match alright, a match made in hell. Alistair had taken many forms of martial arts, and so did Anastasia, but what set them apart was their states of mind. Anastasia was broken, but not completely lost. When she was little, she was bullied by a clique of students, and was raped by her father. Her uncle had molested her too, and her mom was never there. It made her into a psychopath, but she still, yes she still had emotions, albeit twisted emotions. Alistair had no emotions except one, arrogance, which he had lost after his fight with Johnny.

The two combatants back flipped away from each other, and each took a fighting stance. Anastasia licked her lips seductively, while Alistair still remained indifferent. In a flash, they jumped as high as they could and did a flying kick to each other's faces.

When the two came down, Anastasia held her hand to her face and began screaming.

"My Face, you bastard!" she yelled.

Before she could get back into a stance, Alistair was on top of her. He quickly drove his heel into her head, but she rolled out of the way and back behind him. She wrapped her hands around his waist, playfully groping his crotch, and did a suplex on him. Before she could break his neck, he put his hands on the ground and sprung backwards, leaving her grip and getting back on his feet.

She got back to her feet and wiped the sweat off her chest, still trying to seduce him.

"You're good, honey. But, you still can't beat me." She said.

With that, she jumped forward, using her nails to try and scratch her opponent. In just the nick of time, he grabbed her hand and swung her around. When she finally came down, she bounced on the ground a few times before settling down.

Very angry but still trying to keep her calm, she walked away from Alistair and Rolf, shaking her bodacious hips and showing off her legs.

"We'll meet again, soon, Ali-poo. Just wait and see."

Rolf and Alistair watched on, Rolf still mesmerized by her beautiful looks. Alistair slapped Rolf across the face and walked away, Rolf tripping over the battle field, trying to catch up.


	14. The Wait

…8:30

The walk took about thirty minutes, since they didn't need to have the feel of running for their lives. They were acting like a family on vacation, jumping excitedly to get to their destination, while the quiet silent ones just crossed their arms and smiled a little. Ed was especially jumpy, even though his leg was giving him some irritation; he was jumping up and down in a fit of happiness. Nazz and Double D were doing the same thing but they weren't as jumpy as Ed. Johnny and Eddy were being the strong, silent type and soul brother shook each others hand. When they finally saw it, they barricaded themselves inside, sealing every door except one, the exit.

"We made it, guys." Ed said.

"I know, can't believe that we got here in one piece." Eddy said.

"Well, I'm glad." Nazz spoke up.

Nazz began to rest on Eddy's arm, with Eddy began to blush. Johnny playfully punched his other arm and Ed began to snicker. Double D didn't bother with looking, because he was trying to set up a makeshift laboratory.

"I'm glad that we made it here." Nazz said.

"Who isn't?" says Eddy.

"The kids who aren't alive." Johnny answers.

"True that, true that. But, I don't care about them. I care about you guys." Nazz said.

"Aw, thanks Nazz." Ed and Johnny answered simultaneously.

She chuckled that they said it at the same time, but went back to resting on Eddy's arm. After Nazz closed her eyes, Double D came back to check on them. He sat next to Ed and looked at Johnny.

"I'm finally done putting my laboratory together." Double D exclaimed, triumphantly.

Eddy clapped his hands three times, while the others followed on.

"Unfortunately, I have one problem."

"What is it, man?" asks Eddy.

"How do I say it without you guys getting mad at me, though?" Double D asked back.

"Don't bullshit us, Double D. Then we'll get mad." Johnny says.

Double D sighs and says,

"We'll have to wait until nightfall. It's the only time we'll actually have some peace and quiet."

The others jumped up at the answer.

"What! Why can't we do it now? We've got enough sunlight and people won't be able to see us from here." Eddy said, his voice rising ever so slowly.

"This was what I was afraid of. In the morning, kids will be on their toes all the time. But, at night, they'll be tired and probably sleep more…."

"So what you're saying is, we wait until the others pass out?" Johnny says.

Double D nods his head, but as he begins to speak, Johnny stands up, and begins to pace back and forth.

"Think about it, Double D. Sure, most of the kids will be asleep now, but they'll be alert as ever, especially the kids playing hardcore. The hardcore players will be hunting 24/7, and the others are either insane or dead. Either way, if we do this at night, the noise will attract them to here."

Double D ponders what he just said, until he looks up and sees Eddy and Johnny whispering in each others ear, and when they finally come back, they look at each other and then back at the group, who are all staring at them.

"Whatcha talking about, Eddy?" Ed said, in a gleeful tone.

"Guys, speaking of hardcore players, we've had incidents where we've been with the main ones." Eddy speaks up.

They begin to take off their jackets and shirts, revealing their upper bodies, stocky and toned, but something seemed off about them.

When the group looked closer, they saw Eddy had deep scratch marks across his chest and Johnny had a huge scar that seemed to come from a knife across his back.

…

Anastasia had been walking ever since her fight with Alistair, her long dark brown hair that went past her shoulders blowing in the wind, revealing the beautiful yet wanting face she had. She had been strutting her stuff for as the game was being played, and she was the one who caused the deaths of her gang and many other, albeit indirectly. She had forced the two love birds to suicide, and sent Male Student No. 11 to hang himself. That left her with eight kills, but she didn't care as long as she was close to winning.

Anastasia was the leader of her gang, and she called the gang 'The Lovebirds'. They were one of the quietest yet dangerous gangs in Peach Creek; the one competing with them was the Kanker Family. They weren't known around school, but when the others left school, they watched out for them. Anastasia herself had been involved with prostitution, theft, bribery and the lot. There were also rumors that she murdered, or at least called out a hit, on one of the students that tried to get with her.

She walked around for a half hour when she spotted someone in the bushes. The figure sprang up and she saw it was Male Student No. 13. He had a wiry, skeletal physique, but he wasn't the biggest nerd in school. Sure, he was in to Space Wars and Planet of Warfare, but he wasn't as hardcore as the other ones in school. Anastasia decided to play innocent, and walked up to him, pretending to be injured.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" she asked, adding a little desperation in her voice.

The boy turned his head and raised his eyebrows. He then turned around and woke his partner up. He got up, and she saw a muscular boy, but she knew he wasn't one of the jocks, and it wasn't Ed either. He pointed a gun at her, from she saw was a Colt. 44, but 13 told him to put it down.

"It's alright, she's not going hurt us, I hope."

"Well," the other boy said, "I don't trust her yet. Let's check her instead."

13 looked hesitant, but walked up to her and said,

"I'm sorry but I have to check you for weapons."

Peeved on the inside, Anastasia pretended to sound hesitant as well,

"Okay…just be gentle."

The boy, whom Anastasia finds out his name is Alfred, pats her down and checks her skirt pockets.

"That's all Bob, she's clean." Alfred says.

"Okay, but I'm not letting up. Tie her down."

Alfred mouthed the words _I'm sorry _and bound Anastasia's hands with the rope Bob had given him. He begins to explain that the rope was his weapon, and they begin to walk towards the East.

After about ten minutes, Bob sits down to rest, but immediately takes a nap. Alfred and Anastasia decide to sit by a tree, about ten feet away from Bob. After sitting there in silence, Alfred looks up and says,

"Sorry we had to tie your hands together. We had a bad run-in with a psycho kid and he's on the edge of his seat."

"That's okay; you were doing the right thing." Anastasia said, adding a little fake sympathy to her voice.

"If it were me calling the shots, I would've kept your hands apart."

"What do you mean?" Anastasia asks.

"Well…uh…hehe…I mean that I wouldn't bind you like this, like you were an animal, no offense."

Taking the offense inside, Anastasia managed to force out,

"None taken…"

As they watched the sun go up higher and higher into the sky, Alfred began to say,

"You know, Anastasia. I don't think you're what you say you are."

Getting confused, Anastasia asks, "What are you talking about?"

"I don't mean to offend you, but I don't think you're insane, like the others tell me."

Anastasia gets more confused, but leans in to hear what he has to say.

"Every time I see you fight, you have this vacant look in your eyes, like your hiding something. But, one day, I saw you walking with some older guy, and you had a sad look in your eyes. Although you were acting like a hoodlum, your eyes told me something was troubling you. At school, I see you with your head down, and I would go over there to try and talk to you, but my friends would push me away."

Anastasia feels a slight smile go across her face, something she didn't notice until she wiped her face with her shoulder to get rid of sweat from the sun.

"I mean, you have this look about you that you want to get someone's attention. And when that doesn't happen, you get violent. Well, you got my attention." Alfred says, albeit hesitantly.

"Really?" Anastasia asks again, this time feeling a warm feeling inside her, something she hadn't felt in years.

"Yeah…I bet you're going to make fun of me like the rest of them." Alfred explains.

"No…no. I won't do that at all."

Before Alfred could speak again, Anastasia began licking her lips, and Alfred got her message that she wanted to drink. Alfred unbound her hands and gave her a water bottle, and he felt her soft hands brush against his when she took the bottle. He watched her lift her head back and take huge sips of water, but turned away when she looked at him.

Out of nowhere, Bob rushed beside them, the gun in his hand cocked, while the other hand was near his back, gripping something unknown to them.

"Put her hands back!" he yelled.

"Why? She was thirsty." Alfred answered back.

"I saw the look in her eyes, she was about to kill you!" Bob shouted again.

"With what? She couldn't have killed me; she didn't have a weapon."

"THAT ROPE! SHE COULD'VE STRANGLED YOU WITH THAT ROPE!"

Anastasia, half-pretending to be scared, the other half actually startled, rushed behind Alfred, who shielded her, his arms outstretched.

"Bob, please. Put the gun down, she's not going to kill anyone." Alfred said, quietly and moving forward.

Bob looked at Alfred and began to lower his gun, and Alfred moved closer and closer.

"That's it. Put the gun down, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Alfred then stood in front of Bob, merely inches away. Bob slowly gave Alfred the gun by the barrel, but in a fit of terror, he ran towards Anastasia with his right hand shoved in front of him, which was holding an antique dagger. Bob closed his eyes and felt the knife make contact….

Bob opened up his eyes and saw Alfred was standing in front of him, and the dagger had entered the left side of his chest. Stunned at the fact he stabbed his best friend, he didn't notice Anastasia grab his gun, turn it on him and pull the trigger. In seconds, he was dead.

Anastasia looked at Alfred, who was on his side on the ground. She didn't feel herself running towards him until she saw herself over him, until she finally heard herself yell his name,

"ALFRED!"

Weakly, Alfred opened her eyes, and smiled when he saw Anastasia cradling his body.

"Hi, Ana-stasia. I-I'm sorry t-that I-I can't help you now."

"Please stay with me, please! I'll do anything!" she pleaded, feeling real hot tears running down her cheeks and onto his chest. She hugged his body close to hers, his blood staining her purplish-pink sweater, and her right shoulder had spots of blood where he coughed.

"I-I always wanted to ask you out. B-but, I was t-to afraid. And it's t-too late n-n-now."

"No, it's not too late. Please stay alive."

"I-I can only say this once. B-but….I…love…you…Ana…stasia." Alfred said quietly, and he dies in her arms.

Anastasia looks at his body with tears flooding down her face, and she finally hugs his body close to her.

"You were the only one who was kind to me. You tried to help me but the others wouldn't let you…you…you…loved me."

She hugs his body closer to her, and with all her might, she yells,

"ALFRED!"

After her long shout, she comes to terms with his death, closes his eyes and kisses him.

"I'll never forget you." She says, and she walks away.


	15. The Siblings

…8:40

ALFRED!

The scream could be heard around the reservation. It took a while to catch the voice for Male Student No. 12, who had been on the rocks on the beach sharpening a small rock. 12 had heard the scream, thinking of his friend who he had never seen since the game began. As 12 stood up, he felt his head get lighter and he began to feel dizzy.

"Ugh...get over it. You got to find him." He said to himself.

He quickly regained his balance and walked toward the sound of the scream. It wasn't far, about five minutes away, ten if he walked. 12 decided to bide his time, since he wasn't feeling all too good after he saw the massacre north of the beach. He saw his little cousin had his throat slashed, and his crush had her ear bitten off. It was gruesome, but he had to stomach it, since the game didn't allow cowards.

When he finally dozed out of his daydream state, he saw he was in a wooded area. He dreaded being in the woods, and that fear instated when he was five years old, ten years ago. He had daydreamed and walked off into a bush, where he encountered a spider (12 is a total pussy.). He had since feared the woods ever since. When 12 quickly saw his surroundings, his stomach churned and he felt like vomiting. He began to run as fast as he can. And he ran and he ran and he ran and he ran and he ran and he…

He only has time to look up at the sun before he falls through the hole in the ground, landing on sharp sticks that kill him instantly.

After 12 falls through, the duo known as Alistair and Rolf quickly move in on the hole in the ground.

"Punji stakes…we'll never know when we'll need them." Alistair says.

"Indeed, we'll need them after destroying those money-laundering Ed boys."

Rolf and Alistair quickly get to it, walking down the dirt road to find their next targets.

…

"They're EVERYWHERE!" one girl screams.

The girl who screamed was Female Student No. 10, the girl that Anastasia's gang had always picked on. Because of that and her fear of basically everyone, she was a scared little bitch that everyone was weirded out by. She never had any boyfriends, either. Her only friend was a girl who had moved away last month, and now she was completely alone, by herself, with no one to look after her. She also had an incredible fear of being in the woods, too. The woods frightened her, after her mother had told her a story about two kids who got killed in the woods. Since then, she never went on field trips to nature places.

"They're all coming to get me! They're coming!" she yelled.

She had tied her belt to the ceiling, and her skirt came down, revealing her legs and panties. Seeing them down got her thinking, so she climbed down from the stool she was standing, leaving the belt where it is, and went into the bathroom, taking of her shirt in the process.

When she finally came out, she was completely naked, and became mute, losing her sanity after her trip in the bathroom. Then she finally went to her noose and knocked the stool from under her. In a matter of minutes, she was dead.

…

Male and Female Students No. 11 lie dead on the cliff face of the reservation. Hours ago, they had been searching for each other, now they lie dead in a circle.

They were brother and sister, both of whom had a close bond with each other. The eldest brother had looked out for his little sister, and when the games began, it took them a while but they found each other. The brother was completely out of energy when she found him, but it was through her perseverance and his will to survive until he found her that drove him to stay alive.

Before they died, they had a conversation.

"We'll never beat this game." Said the brother.

"And if we did, we'd never see each other again." The sister said.

They looked out towards the horizon, their hands locked together.

"I know one thing, though. I'll never stoop to everyone's level." The brother said.

"Me neither." The sister agreed.

They both tossed their bags over the cliff, but they kept their weapons. One of them had a bomb detonator, which they found out it connected to their collars. The sister had the same weapon.

"Well, I guess this it." The brother finally said.

"Yep, this is it." The sister said.

They both hugged each other, kissed each other on the cheek and lips. They held each other's hand. Before they detonated the collars, the siblings simultaneously said,

"I love you…"

And with that, they collars blew out their necks, and they fell together in a death embrace.

…

_**Author's note**: I know this one is especially short, but I'll get to it tomorrow. Hope you liked this chapter. Leave a review and say what you think._


	16. The MurderSuicide

…9:00

POP! CRACK! CRUNCH!

The sound of bone against bone was crashing against the house. It was a massive battle, with a hulking boy that you could describe as a terrible monster in human form, versus the boy who would valiantly risk his life for one person. But, the twist is, that person is dead.

They were Male Students No. 15 and 16. 16 was one of the Jocks, but he wasn't good looking like what he said were the rest of his classmates. No one could describe his face, but when he was angry, they could describe it as a demon from Hell. 15 was one of the non-clique students, who kept to himself. He had average looks, but his hair was neatly combed back, with small drops of mousse to keep his hair somewhat good looking. He wasn't muscular or stocky as most of the kids were, but his body was well defined, skeletal yet toned.

The house they were fighting in was about five blocks away from where Eddy and the rest were. 16 grabbed 15 and threw him against the wall, over a table. 15 persevered and threw a chair at him, which knocked the monstrous boy off his feet. 15 ran into the kitchen and grabbed an empty bottle of John Davis alcohol and broke it on the counter.

"No matter what you do, kid I'll still come after you." 16 said his voice grave and husky, like a monster.

"I'll let you know that I'll fight you to the bitter end." 15 replied, and he ran into the living room.

16 was no where to be found, but his laugh could be heard. 16 steeled himself, fixed his glasses, and began searching the house. 16 looked in every nook and cranny, finally coming to a close that he could've gone outside. There was one place he didn't look though, and it was the basement. 16 hated basements, ever since he was a kid. When they moved into Peach Creek, his father pulled a mean prank that left him somewhat scarred. His father asked him to forgive him, but he couldn't bring himself to. His father stopped pranking his son, which he did on a daily basis before they moved, and they grew kind of distant. But, in fear came strength. 16 straightened his glasses again, and cautiously walked down the stairs.

16 had a crush on Female Student No. 10, although she was going out with the Male Student with the same number. At first, he was extremely jealous of their relationship. But, he eventually got the nerve to talk to her, and she introduced him to him. 16 realized he wasn't a bad guy, and he made a resolve that as long as she was happy, he was happy. And he was. But, when he heard their deaths over the announcements, he was extremely grief stricken. But, he then had a dream. 10 came to him, told him to move on but remember her, and she gave him a friendly yet passionate kiss on the cheek and moved to the afterlife. 15 used to harass her and her boyfriend, and it made 16 really mad. So, he went after him to help his love and his new friend.

16 made it down the steps, and 15 was under the steps trying to keep his mouth shut.

"Show yourself!" 16 yelled, "Unless you're too much of a coward."

In the quietest voice, 15 said,

"You'll have to try better than that, son. A coward is what you are…"

"Oh yeah? Should I call you a pussy? Or maybe I could call you a crotchsniffer? Maybe Jock licker?"

15 began to feel his cheeks turn hot.

"Or maybe I should talk about your bitch whore mom? I know her type, sleeps with men when she was younger and gets knocked up with a failed lab experiment like you. Then, she makes you do sports so you don't ruin her reputation and make her seem prettier by comparison, am I in the ballpark?"

15 had it, and he jumped from the stair well, but, 16 rolled out of the way. 15 roared a bestial roar, and lunged towards him. 16 felt a slight grin grow across his face, as he dodged him again and again. Eventually, 15 jumped on top of him, and they wrestled to the ground. The bottle rolled from 16's hands, and he felt the cold grip of 15's hands around his throat. 16 felt like he was going to pass out, until in a desperate move, he shoved his hands into his opponents face, and used his thumbs to gouge his eye out.

15 screamed in pain, as he rolled around on the floor, his eyes hanging from the sockets. Before he could get up, 16 grabbed his bottle and began stabbing him. He kept stabbing him until he was out of breath. 16 sat there in silence, catching his breath before standing up, the corpse of his enemy looking like dogs had bitten into him.

16 immediately went up the stairs and out the door, his arms swinging in front of him, and he began to walk away. All of a sudden, a shot rang out, and he fell to the floor, dead.

Out of the corner of the street, came Anastasia. She had a smug on her face as she blew the gun smoke from the barrel away. She then walked in the opposite direction, making 16, in the last few minutes of consciousness, look at her strutting her stuff before he closed his eyes.

…

9:00

Female Student No. 13 and Male Students No. 14 were running together, the boy leading her by the hand. They had only been with each other for at least five hours, and they found each other while fighting against the others. The two were the only live ones after a small fight between two others. They both hid while the others finished each other off, and when the smoke cleared, they found each other were standing in the blood of each other's partners. Seeing that they weren't going to kill each other, they resolved to find a way protect each other.

"That's it…I need to rest." Said 14.

"Okay…I'll take watch." 13 said.

13 wasn't as good looking as the rest of the girls she hung out with. She had slight acne on her cheeks and she had not such a slender body. She had a few pounds to spare. She wasn't popular with the girls at all, but she had some recognition around the school as the one who won the most spelling bees.

14, on the other hand, got all the girls attention. He was a basketball player, and a gifted one at that, and he was pretty good at playing piano. He could play a song by ear and have it in tune with the actual song. 13 had a major crush on him, a greater crush than anyone else. But, she was always pushed back in line whenever he played in the music room, and when she finally try to ask him to play something, he would say his time is up and he would leave. Needless to say, people thought he was a genius.

14 gained his breath back, but decided to keep laying there. When she finally got the courage to talk, 13 said,

"Well, looks like we made it this far." Said 13.

"Yeah, without encountering anyone, thankfully." 14 responded.

She looked out toward the sunlight, and she stared at the horizon.

"I'm embarrassed to say that I still can't believe we're in this game." She said.

"Really? We've been here for maybe a day now." He responded.

"Yeah, but…it hasn't sunk in. I mean all my friends could be dying or dead already. You've heard the announcements; the Kanker family is all dead. And Alistair and Anastasia are still alive. They might've killed everyone now."

"What does it matter?" he asked, "I'll keep us safe."

"Yeah, but for how long? I don't mean to sound like a bitch but, we only have two more days left. How do you expect us to survive any of it."

"Well, we're lucky that we haven't seen anyone else yet." He said.

She turned around to him. She had to begun to tear up at the fact she was actually still alive, and she was happy that he was also still alive. She crawled onto her hands and knees towards him. He got a confused look on his face, but felt relieved when she finally took his hand.

"Well, I'm glad I'm surviving with you."

"Yeah…I could too." He responded.

She giggled, but she felt herself closing in on his face. He felt his face get closer, too. Just as their lips touched, 13 felt a blast hit her stomach, and felt blood pouring out. She looked down and saw she had been shot in the belly, and her whole insides were blown to pieces. She looked up and saw the blank yet angry face 14 had, and she looked at him in horror, the face staying like that on the way down.

14 began to put his sawed off shotgun to his own head. He saw the death of his best friend hours ago, and she was there, too. He cocked the gun, remembering how many girls he had slept with, and how close this one was to getting him.

"You're fault…you're fault they're dead." He muttered, and he pulled the trigger.


	17. The Final Ten

…hours later 12:00

"Hello, Everyone and Good afternoon!" Mr. Hardwick said.

"We have a lot of deaths in the last few hours, but I'll tally them off later. The deaths listed now are Male Students No. 15 and 16, Male Student No. 12, Female Student No. 10, Male Student No. 14, and Female Student No. 13 and Male and Female Students No. 10. In all, eight deaths, leaving the rest ambiguous. That leaves us with twelve students in the Game. We have two more days until the game is over, so keep fighting, warriors."

…12:30

Male Student No. 3, the fattest one in the whole class, had miraculously survived the first night of the Game. He didn't join the groups everyone had formed, and he was usually picked on at school. No one thought he survived the first night, but he did somehow. His issued weapon was a BB gun. Although it was a BB gun, it was manufactured just for the program to go through human skin, plus the BBs were metal. He didn't care, as long as he was safe, he felt secure.

"Huh…huh…huh….oh no…the woods…no!" he said to himself.

He had never been in the woods his whole life, not even when he went on field trips. He was usually nose deep in a video game or some type of game manual for Army of Three, Mayne Payne, Call of Warfare, etc. So, he never was the type to go out much. He did have friends, but they were so into games themselves they rarely had time to go out. They usually hung out at the library and played Planet of Warfare online, so that's when they had conversation.

"Oh, what am I gonna do! I can't do this, I just can't!" he complained out loud.

Just as he said that, he heard something rustling through the woods. In a fit of blind fear, he pulled the gun towards the sound and pulled the trigger. The springy pop made from the gun was pretty loud, but it didn't bother him. When he opened his eyes and perked his ears a little, he heard a thud. Fearing that it might be one of his friends, he dove through the brush and tripped.

When he got up, he realized he tripped over a body. He turned the body over and saw the corpse of Female Student No. 4.

3 backed away as fast as he could, but stopped when he hit a tree. After sitting there for about four minutes, he began to sob uncontrollably. His sobbing turned to wails and his wails turned into basically screams. He had a crush on Female Student No. 4, and tried desperately to change his body image. When that didn't work out, he decided to get the right version of fatness in his mind. He also tried to get more courageous, and it did work a little bit, when she saw someone harassing 4 and he stood up for her, which got him a beating. He never got the courage to talk to her, but he had looked out at her from afar. Once, he went so far as to write a poem for her, but he wasn't good at it and he didn't mail it either.

"Oh, why? Why did I do that?" he cried.

"It was the right thing to do…" a voice said.

3 was wondering if he was talking to himself or someone in his imagination, but he didn't care. He then answered back,

"It was? But she was my crush." He said.

"Why should it matter?" the voice asked.

"If I didn't do it, she'd be alive today." He yelled.

"I've had enough of this." The voice said.

"Wha-"

Before he could finish his sentence, his brain splattered across the tree he sat across. His body slumped over and his brains continued to leak from his head.

Alistair looked on, the steaming Walther PPK he held from the battle a night ago, and watched as the body went from alive to dead.

"Grey…always wondered what the brain looked like."

He taps Rolf on the shoulder and walks away.

…1:00

"Male Student No.5, reporting for duty!" said No. 5.

He put his two fingers to his ear, believing that he had an earpiece.

His mind was saying,

"_**Good copy, No. 5. We got a tango about two clicks ahead of you, you copy?**_"

"Solid copy, command central. Tango looks about five foot five, and she has long black hair." No.5 said.

"_**Huh, looks like you're going to have to get her yourself. We would send back up, but our troops are out in Afghanistan.**_"

"It's alright, sir. I'll take her myself, No. 5 out."

He positioned his ice pick, which he believed it was a combat knife, and waited for the enemy to strike. He saw her walking away, and realized that this was a chance to strike. He charged at the enemy, yelling a war cry. He jammed the ice pick in front of him and dived through the air…

He only had time to see her smirk before the knife entered his eyes and went through into his brain.

"Sigh…he'll never join the army now." Anastasia said.

She picked up his ice pick, waiting for her rematch with her rival and object of affections, Alistair.

…

Murder…murder…murder everywhere. That's what was written on the wall everywhere. Blood, blood blood…it was all over the room. In the corner, in the wall, on the floor. It was everywhere.

Female Student No. 5 had gone insane and locked herself in the house she was hiding in. She shut the blinds, barricaded the doors and got rid of the furniture in one specific area of the house. She was naked from head to toe, and she was masturbating, with the words _blood _and _murder _written everywhere. She had witnessed the death of the Sarah from hours ago, but that scene never left her mind. She thought about it over and over, and it led her to slice her wrists. Her psyche made up a story that if she performed her own blood ceremony, she would go back to her family.

"I'll go back…I'll go back…I'll go back…" she said over and over.

Her skin became white, and she was near it. She was near her own death and her own pleasure. The former class representative had lost it…completely. The formerly sweet, kind girl that a third of the class looked up had become what most had been…insane.

She became paler and paler, her eyes drained of color, and they rolled back. She continued in her motions, and her gaping mouth turned into an insane grin. The insane grin turned into an insane smile, and the smile began to look like a zombie's hungry mouth. She was reaching it, she was reaching home….she thought she was reaching home.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-AH!"

She had reached it. Felt like she had gone home. She had reached bliss, just as well. She felt herself flying through the air, and she felt like she was finally free. In reality, it was a way more disgusting site. A young girl, her mind lost to the game, naked and covered in blood and stick, an insane face formed and locked there for eternity.


	18. The Fight for the Title

…7:00

Anastasia had gone for hours without seeing anyone. Sunset was reaching its last few moments and she hadn't seen a single sight of Alistair or his lackey, etc. She'd been showing off everything she had, even some 'pink', but she couldn't find anyone. It didn't matter to her, since she wasn't seeing anyone; she knew she was getting closer to winning. She decided to head into the civilized area, she felt claustrophobic in the wilderness.

"Ugh…finally, I get some kind of peace and quiet." She said, ironic since there was nothing but silence through out the day.

She decided to settle into one of the prettier houses, a nice backyard and a beautiful garden in the back. It was two stories, so she could look out the window and spot anyone there. The house she found wasn't that bad. In fact, it looked like a manor.

She looked inside and put the Colt. 44 she had taken the day before from Alfred and Bob, and quietly stepped in. She called out to anyone, and she didn't get a response. She then lowered her guard down and cleaned up the place and felt at home in the house.

"Ah…I love this place." Anastasia said.

She decided to check the house for some private time and to take a nap. She checked the master bedroom and it looked abandoned. She checked the room across from it, and it was as empty as a cardboard box after it's been opened and all the contents were taken out. She finally checked the room down the hall and she squealed in excitement. It was a round queen sized bed, with blue sheets and a wardrobe fit for a queen. Anastasia jumped a little bit and rushed into the room. There was some fresh perfume and a make up kit in one of the drawers near the bed. She then twirled around the room and fell down onto the bed, and felt a warm, home-y feeling. She then wandered her eyes around until she found a statue. It was hard and had a blunt tip at the end. She looked harder and realized that it wasn't a statue; it was a toy…a toy. She got a seductive look in her eyes and shut the door…

An hour later, she was under the covers and completely naked, she snuggled with a pillow and felt a smile show across her face.

"Hah…I'll go back to killing in an hour or two…well, when I feel like it."

She then shut off the light and closed her eyes, immediately going to sleep.

…

Even though it was a few hours ago, the group was still shocked at Johnny and Eddy's story. Eddy and Johnny sat down at different corners of the shop, trying to get the story back into their minds so they won't have to deal with everyone stressing out. Johnny took out a cigarette and Eddy began to smoke his pipe, finally running out of tobacco. Ed was sitting up in front with Double D, who had opened his collar up and was examining it. Nazz was sitting beside Eddy, trying to comfort him. Johnny felt like he was again alone, but he walked up to Eddy and sat beside him.

"I don't think we should've told them." Johnny said.

"I agree," Eddy responds. "We're losing daylight and we're down to the final ten. Who knows who's out there?"

"Yeah, that Alistair kid is one tough son of a bitch." Johnny exclaimed, and he shut his eyes and began to have a flashback.

It was the fifth of March in their seventh grade year. A gang (more like clique) war was waging in the halls of the junior high that the kids went to and the streets of Peach Creek. Johnny was in the school bathroom, the same bathroom that Eddy and Johnny threw down in, when all of a sudden, Alistair walked into the bathroom. He wasn't the kid he fought last night, who had no emotions whatsoever. He was the damaged kid and the most psychopathic in the Kanker Family. After Johnny finished urinating, he washed his hands and put his gloves back on, and watched the kid walk into the stall. He heard him shut the door, but didn't lock it. It was his chance then. He walked over to the stall and swung the door open and grabbed him. He pushed him up against the wall and tried to steal anything he had. Alistair kicked him and he stumbled backwards into a urinal. He got back up and punched him in the face, drawing blood. Alistair's face flushed with rage, and he elbowed Johnny in the cheek. He staggered and Alistair pinned him against a wall, his hands around his throat. Johnny struggled free and eventually broke loose. The fight lasted about five minutes, when Alistair pulled out a switchblade. He came down and stabbed Johnny in the left shoulder and dragged it down to his right hip. When Johnny came to the hospital, he had one hundred stitches in his back, and a scolding from his parents led him to go live out in a motel for at least two weeks, barely making the day to day rent by stealing and selling it out on the street.

"I bet, brother. But that Anastasia bitch can pack a punch, too." Eddy remarked.

Eddy began to remember _his _encounter with the one who gave him that scar. It was the last day of school and Eddy was walking home from school. He passed an alley way where Anastasia was hanging out, and she walked up to him. He knew who was following him, so he kept his head down and his flat brimmed cap was moved to cover his face.

"Hey, baby." She said, lightly tracing Eddy's left pectoral.

"What do you want?" he asked, trying to keep from sounding interested.

"Oh, I'm just a little girl who's in need of some…company."

Eddy began to feel her finger go down to his left pocket, then felt her hand go down in. She rubbed his leg, and Eddy began to get a boner. She knew she was getting to him, because she then said,

"Is that a pencil in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" she said, and she made one strap of her sports bra go loose, making Eddy notice. He walked faster, her hand still not leaving his pocket.

"Where're you going?" she asked, in a playful sad tone.

"I gotta go do…some shit."

"And I guess by _some shit_ that you're going to go home and do nothing? Why don't you let me keep you company."

Eventually, Eddy fell for it. He took her to his house, and they both shut the lights off. It was the first time Eddy made it to third base; the others were simply second and third. Eddy took off his shirt and flexed every muscle he had.

"Ooh…we got a prison body…I like that." She said, and she licked her lips seductively.

Eddy was under Anastasia's spell and he dove after her like a wild animal. He went at normal speed for about ten to fifteen minutes, then she kept telling him to go harder and harder until he went as fast as they could. Unbeknownst to them, Ed was spying on them through the window (who knew Ed was such a pervert?). As he looked closer and closer, she began to notice that her hand was reaching where he kept his money, inside the shoe box on the left of the bed on the nightstand. Eddy was on the verge of climaxing, when Ed busted in the door.

"ED! What the fuck are you doing?" Eddy yelled.

"It's Anastasia! She's trying to sow your money farm!" Ed yelled again.

Eddy looked at her in shock and anger, and she drove her nails into his chest, they went deep and she scratched him, dragging her nails across his chest. She kicked him and ran out of the house, half naked and holding her clothes in one hand. He went to the doctors, but the man said it wasn't serious. But, he eventually helped him close up the wounds. They left a scar that reminded him of his most hated enemy (besides Kevin, who is dead.).

"If we survive long enough, we'll have to fight them." Nazz said.

"Hell, we've survived this long; we're definitely going to fight them." Johnny said.

"Yeah, but I'm not the one getting my ass killed when that happens." Eddy exclaimed.

"Me, too." Johnny said.

"Me, three." Ed said, albeit stupidly.

"I suppose I won't have my 'ass shot', like you say." Double said, still hard at work.

"So it's settled, when we fight them, it'll be together." Eddy boasted.

"Yeah!" said the others.

They patted each other on the backs and gave each other handshakes and hugs, the camaraderie going a little overboard since they do this every time they make a plan. They began to start another conversation when out of nowhere, a voice yelled,

"Plain faced, Ed boy! Come out!"

…

"Plain faced, Ed boy! Come out!" Rolf yelled.

Alistair and Rolf began to walk through the urban environment when they happened to hear Eddy's group talking and cheering. Alistair didn't care, but Rolf told him to stop. He began to walk towards the garage door and slammed his fist against the metal.

"Rolf will break down this door if the one browed Ed boy does not come out!" Rolf demanded.

The group turned towards Ed, who was looking at the group with astonishment and confusion. Eddy pointed his thumb towards the door, and jerked his head in the same directions.

"I can't do it, guys…I don't want to risk it." Ed said a hint of fear in his voice.

"Ed, you can do it." Double D said.

"No guys please…"

"Ed…you can do it. We got your back." Johnny said.

"Yeah, what he said." Eddy followed.

Ed was becoming more and more scared, his lips trembling when Nazz walked up to him.

"Ed…you can do it." She said, and she kissed him on the cheek. Eddy looked on in anger and shock while Johnny raised his eyebrow and left his mouth agape in astonishment. Ed was astonished too, but he steeled himself and walked towards the entrance door and went through.

"Hello, champion and rival Ed boy." Rolf said.

"I'm here, what do you want?" Ed said.

"Oh, Rolf would like to have something you keep…as in a special title." Rolf exclaimed.

"Biggest idiot?" Ed said, trying to diffuse the situation for his friend's safety.

"No…" Rolf said.

"Biggest eater?"

"No…" Rolf said, his voice getting irritated. Alistair just stood there, just observing his partner's opponent.

"Biggest monster maker?"

"NO, THE STRONGEST IN THE LAND!" Rolf finally yelled.

"Who's the strongest?" Ed asked.

"YOU…YOU! Ay-aye-aye!"

"Who told you that?"

"The mighty Kankers. They know who is who and who is not." Rolf said.

"Those jerks make lies about us. Especially me!" Ed remarked.

"Oh, but your title holds true. You see, Rolf has observed you. You can pick up the back of a car off the ground."

"Yeah, but only about ten inches." Ed explained.

"And you can…what you call…bench press three hundred pounds."

"It's more like two twenty." Ed corrected.

"Enough mindless chit chat. Rolf wants that title, and to do that, he must kill you." Rolf said, and he brandished his whip.

Ed got startled, but got determined when Rolf threw the whip to the side. He positioned himself in a wrestling stance, and Ed turned into a boxing stance.

"LET US ROCK!" Rolf yelled.

He lunged towards Ed and picked him off the ground, and slammed him into the concrete. He tried to jam his fist into his face, but Ed reversed it and came on top of him. He punched him a few times before Rolf launched him with his legs. Ed fell a few feet away and he quickly got back up. They charged toward each other, and each fist landed on the other. The battle got so fast and quick, dust formed around them, making a cloud of violence. Ed's fist found its mark, and so did Rolf's. Rolf hip tossed Ed over and jumped a little in the air, bringing his foot down on Ed's face. Ed grabbed the foot and moved his arms up Rolf's leg and threw him to the side. He elbowed him in the face, then chest then stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of him.

Ed felt triumphant, and stood over what seemed the unconscious body of Rolf. He raised one fist in the air to signal the fight was over. As Ed turned around, Rolf jammed a fist into Ed's groin, effectively knocking him down. Rolf then got up and kicked Ed a few times in the face, until his face began to bleed.

"Rolf has done it! Rolf has become the strongest in the land! I am-"

Before Rolf could finish his sentence, Alistair pulled out his PPK and shot Rolf. The bullet came to him from point blank range, and the bullet quickly passed through his skull, effectively killing him. Alistair stepped over both Rolf and Ed, and quickly pointed through the window of the garage. He fired a few times, breaking the glass, making it shatter around the shop. Before he fired another shot, a louder bang shot through the air. Alistair turned around, and noticed Anastasia, wearing a black leather cut off shirt and a dress made with the same material, black high heeled shoes and make up around her eyes that matched her black eyes. In her hand was a Colt .44, and it was aiming straight at Alistair.

"Miss me, Ali-poo?" she asked.


	19. The Match Made in Hell

Alistair looked around and saw his female counterpart, dressed in all black leather and eye shadow to contemplate eyes. She gave him a seductive look and walked towards him, making sure her hips swung a little more to entice him. Alistair stared blankly and stood straight, straightening his coat on his shoulders. She pointed her gun towards him, cocking the hammer.

"How's the boy wonder doing?" she asks.

Alistair points his head towards the corpse of Rolf, mangled over the passed out Ed, who had passed out over the groin shot, and finally passing out after Rolf's body fell on him. The others knew he was safe, but feared for him after she came.

"Shame…he could've been an excellent partner….not as much as _you_, though."

She put her hand on her right breast, trying to draw his attention. Alistair stood there, his eyes not blinking, his face not moving a muscle. Anastasia raises an eyebrow, the droops it back down.

"You weren't always the strong, silent type. Why start now?" she asks, putting her gun down at her hip.

With that, Alistair pulled out his Walther PPK, and Anastasia quickly pulled her gun back up. They walked closer and closer, until their guns were in each other's faces. Anastasia ran a seductive smirk across her eyes…

"Well, then…I guess its game on, isn't it?"

Alistair did a brief nodding of his head, signaling he was already down for a fight.

"I thought so." Anastasia said, and she roundhouse kicks him, narrowly missing. Alistair ducks under her, and pushes her leg up and makes her flip backwards in the air. She comes back down on her hands, and quickly grabs his head and throws him back behind her. Thinking she made contact, she let go only to have Alistair's boot come towards her stomach and make contact. She falls forward, only to spring back up and throw a back fist at his face. It makes contact, and his body swings to the left.

Eddy and the others decide to take a chance and grab Ed and bring him back. Johnny and Eddy were once on the track team together, but dropped out after one race. They decide they should head out first, and quickly open the door. Seeing Alistair and Anastasia busy with their fight, they run towards Ed and pull Rolf's corpse, now settling into rigor mortis, off of him and drag him back into the auto shop. They quickly bolt the door shut, and Double D decides to look at Ed's collar again, opening it back up and examining it while Ed stayed passed out.

Anastasia and Alistair eventually cross their legs in an X formation, Anastasia making sure that her panties were visible to him. Alistair quickly takes his leg back and forms a kickboxing stance. Anastasia brings her leg back down too, and makes one hip go up.

"You know, Ali-poo, we can just stop fighting and go after them. We could be Bonnie and Clyde, whatever you want to do."

Alistair didn't take his eyes off her, making it clear that he still wants to fight. Anastasia sees that he won't accept her offer so she shrugs it off. She then makes a seductive Wudangquan stance, winking at Alistair.

"Oh, well…If you win this fight you can do whatever you want to me. If I win…I get whatever I want."

Alistair shifted his eyes, as if he were agreeing with her deal, and quickly sprinted towards her. Anastasia stood in the stance and smirked, thinking she would win hands down.

Alistair did an aerial round house kick that connected with Anastasia's forearm. She quickly slid under him and side kicked him in the back. It connected, and it sent him flying into the air. She ran under him and quickly jammed a fist into his face, sending him reeling into a concrete wall. Alistair examines his face, but doesn't crack a scowl or anything.

"Is that the best you've got?" Alistair says, quietly.

As soon as he said that, Anastasia reached behind herself. She pulled out the Colt. 44 holstered in her belt loop and pulled the trigger. Alistair rolled over and took cover behind a wall. She continued to fire shots one after the other, until she finally had to reload. Alistair saw his chance and pulled his gun from his pocket and fired at her. One bullet hit her in her right shoulder, making her stagger back.

"That's it! I'm done playing games! I've killed eight kids and I'll rack them up to fourteen." She yelled, and she fired at him again.

Alistair didn't flinch when one of her bullets grazed his arm. Instead, he got up and fired a bullet into her hand, making her lose her gun. She picked it back up with the other hand, and pointed towards Alistair, who surprised her by being mere inches from her.

The stand-off continued, each one circling the other guns pointed at each other's faces. Anastasia's mind began to fluster with the memories of her childhood. The time she was gang raped by her father, being molested by her uncle and being bullied by one of the elementary school cliques she went to school with. She knew she should let bygones be bygones, but her other self, the self that made her what she was, wouldn't allow her to forget.

"See what he made me do? See?" she pleaded. Alistair cocked an eyebrow as she opened her locket.

"He made me lose them, made me hate them." She said, and she pointed to the pictures in the locket. They were her mother and uncle.

"Don't be like them. Don't be."

Alistair looked at the locket, a look of astonishment on his face. He began to lose grip on his gun as he stared into the locket. Eventually, the gun made contact with the ground, letting out a metallic clink ring out. Anastasia saw her chance and jammed her gun into his chest and pulled the trigger. Alistair coughed up a few droplets of blood, and dropped to the floor.

"Ha-ha, gotcha. I didn't give a fuck about these two. Hell, these two were dead the second they messed with me. I won't go into details, but I'll just say they got what was coming."

Anastasia cocked her head to one side, and examined Alistair, who was still breathing. She didn't take notice that there was no blood on his shirt, only looking down at his pants.

"Ooh…you're still alive…well, how about I let you die feeling…ecstatic."

Anastasia plopped down on both knees and unzipped his pants….

"Aw…that was good, wasn't it?" she asked.

Alistair lay there, not moving a muscle.

"Oh well…time to die."

Before she could pick her gun up, Alistair kicked her in the face and knocked her sideways. What she hadn't found out was, in her lustful desire, Alistair's chosen weapon was a bulletproof vest. He found this out before his fight with Johnny, and was wearing it ever since.

Alistair pointed his gun at Anastasia's stomach and let eight bullets go through her. She laid there, clutching her stomach, as her blood poured from her wounds.

"Mmm…ugh…nice sh-shot, Ali-poo." She said, stammering.

Alistair stood there, watching her bleed out.

"Wasn't that fun? I-I got w-what I wanted…"

Alistair paid no mind and stood there, while the others watched on through the windows of the garage.

"I'll admit, it was fun…" Alistair said.

"So you admit it?"

"I admit…all this time I was avoiding a real good party."

Anastasia licked her blood soaked lips, and smirked again…

"Might as well help you out…"

Anastasia made a purr, and passed out from the blood loss. Alistair had planned to kill her from the start, but from the 'pink party' he had with her, he made a plan. He'd kill her off once they were the final two.

Alistair helped Anastasia to her feet, and dragged her to the house across the street. The match made in hell would finally be realized.


	20. The Sacrifice

…

They sat there in silence. Alistair's actually helping Anastasia… The Kanker versus the Lovebird, settling to kill them one by one. Eddy sat down inside a car in need of repair, and Johnny joined him. Eddy then asks him for a cigarette, which Johnny doesn't hesitate to hand him one. They light one together, and think.

"This is bad….really bad." Nazz says.

"I know, two of the most psycho kids in the school coming after us. The new Bonnie and Clyde, or maybe even James and Suzan Carson." Eddy replies.

"Fight them we must or Anastasia my head will bust." Ed says, sacredly.

"Didn't you say that before?" Johnny asks.

"Well, we'll have to make a plan. Come here." Double D says.

The others crowd around Double D, who is still working on Ed's collar.

"Get my map out." Double D orders.

Eddy gets his map and lays it out on a table.

"Now, what we want to do is head to the North side of the reservation. There are helicopters and trucks alike. We'll have to make a raid there to get out. If all else fails, I don't know what they'll do to us. Let's just pray that we get home safely, gentlemen."

"If you ask me," Johnny interludes, "It's that home isn't a good place to be. They'll be crawling up our asses if they find us at home. Our best bet is to get a plane ticket to Europe. We'll then head to Greece."

"Why head to Greece? What do they sell grease everywhere we turn?" Eddy asks, sarcastically.

"Actually, they don't sell grease everywhere, it's just-"

"I was being sarcastic, sock head." Eddy says.

Double D pays no mind and gets to work on Ed's collar. After about another minute of working, the light on Ed's collar begins to dim. In another minute, it falls off. The others sit there, astonished until Eddy begins to whoop and holler. He grabs Nazz and brings her in closely, while Johnny crosses his arms and gives an approving nod and smile while the others jump up and down. Double D hugs Ed, which Ed reciprocates by squeezing Double D hard. Eddy then hugs Johnny, who gets surprised but also reciprocates it in a brotherly way. Nazz then turns Eddy around and kisses him, full on the lips, to which the others laugh at.

"We finally did it! Ed's collar came off!" yelled everyone in unison.

As the cheering dies down, the others scramble to get to the seat. Nazz eventually gets the chair, and Eddy and Johnny pick up their cigarettes off the floor, fearing that the cherries would set off an explosion. They sit down in the broken car, and play with the radio, and then they realize that it works. They see the channel of reggae music hits, and Bob Marley's song 'One Love' was playing. The sense of right was all through the air and the boys decided to sing along.

_One love, one heart. Let's get together and feel alright._

They eventually realized that it was a government radio, because it just looped over and over. They didn't care, though, as the song brought them together again. In his whole life, Johnny felt like he had a family once again. Not the family that was never there, but the family that he always saw on television, altogether and happy.

…9:00

Hours later, Nazz's collar came off. In that time, the other's had gone to sleep. Double D had felt his eyes begin to sag, and noticed Nazz was also sleeping against the chair. Double D thought about getting to sleep when he noticed two figures walking towards them in the distance. One had a slight limp, so slight only Double D's trained eyes could notice. The figure had a curvaceous body, and the figure next to her had a martial artist's body, something like Bruce Lee. His eyes widened when he figured the two out. It was Alistair and Anastasia.

Without thinking, Double D shook the others awake. Eddy woke up with a start; Ed and Johnny were a little bit of a hassle. Nazz came awake as soon as she could. Double D began to shout.

"We got to get out of here. Alistair and Anastasia are coming!"

"We can take them. I've got my machete." Eddy says.

"How is that going to go against two trained martial artists? Didn't think about that?" Johnny says.

Eddy lets out a disappointed grunt, and looked around the garage. In the far right corner was a van that had the company's logo on it. He points it out to the others, and they hurry towards the van. Eddy got into the driver's seat, and realized that they were no keys. Hurrying as fast as he could, he opened the space beneath the steering wheel, using his street smarts to hotwire the car. He hopped in and stepped on the pedal and they took off.

Five minutes into the drive, they felt a little bit relieved, but they were still on their toes. They noticed Johnny, a cold look on his face and his lips were holding onto the cigarette, which was at half.

"How can you be so calm and collected in a time like this?" Double D asks.

Johnny pays no mind and takes a huge drag of the cigarette. He opens the window in the passenger seat in the front, and puts his cigarette out the door.

"That'll give away our position, what're you doing?" Eddy asks, frustrated.

"Those two are probably on our trail anyway. So, why cover our tracks?" Johnny says.

"What are you talking about?"

Johnny flicks the cigarette out the window, and rolls up the window. He straightens his jacket and begins to explain,

"Eddy, we both have had experiences with these bastards. My theory is, since these guys are cold-blooded, they're going to have our trail in a second. That Alistair kid, he's not a normal kid like us. You've seen his eyes in our school; they were just like Anastasia's. Now, they're dead and vacant, like a corpse. Whatever I did, I must've caused some kind of head trauma that the brain was waiting for. Alistair's a genius kid, he's been able to paint beautiful pictures, play the violin like a pro and kick ass like he knew it for years. Those Kanker kids might've taught him some stuff, since they live in the woods, basically. But I've seen Alistair; he's not a country bumpkin like them. As for Anastasia, she's a master of seduction and she can get you in a heartbeat, just like what happened to you. She's damaged, but not like him."

"You're basically saying they're the same?" Nazz asks.

"No, not the same. Alistair's a borderline sociopath. Anastasia's a psychopath. Sociopaths and psychopaths are way different. Sociopaths can manipulate you and not have feelings. Psychopaths have feelings; they just use it in different ways. Put two of them together in a same room, they're bound to kill each other or they'll team up to kill you."

The other's sit in silence before Eddy remarks,

"You pulled this stuff out of your ass didn't you?"

"You learn a lot from listening to stories." Johnny responds.

Eddy looks ahead at the road, turning on the lights to see his way. Just as he turns them on, his mirror turns a bright yellow. He looks into the mirror and sees Alistair and Anastasia, in a bright red sports car. Anastasia leans out the window and shoots the side mirror out. The others duck down as Eddy tries to steer the wheel while trying to dodge the bullets.

"Look! Up there!" says Ed, and he points toward a hill, where two corpses were huddled together. Ed checks the mirror and notices that they were thirty feet from the new duo. Eddy makes a risky move and pulls the van over.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Double D said, astonished that he actually swore, and covers his mouth.

"They might have guns. Go check them up!" Eddy yells, and he jumps out the van and runs up the hill.

Johnny grunts and goes after him. They go and find the guns that they used they killed each other with. Eddy finds seven clips inside the daypack of the corpse on the right, and Johnny finds the same number inside the other bag. They turn around and see the car coming closer and closer. They sprint down the hill and give Double D and Ed the guns. They speed off, the sports car just on their tail.

"Ed, Double D, open the back door and shoot!" Eddy commands.

"I don't know how to use this!" Double D yells.

"Just pull the fucking trigger and the bullet comes out!" Johnny screams.

"But I-I...uh.."

"You're fucking useless, Double D. Give me that!" Nazz yells, and she snatches the gun from his hand. Ed opens the door and begins to pull the trigger until his clip runs out. Eddy tosses him a clip and Nazz opens up her door and shoots again.

Ed and Nazz come down to their last clip, so they open the door and shoot one at a time, using their bullets wisely and trying to buy some time for them. Johnny takes note of this, and tells Eddy.

"Damn! My gun's out of bullets!"

"So is mine!"

The others look at each other in disbelief, before Johnny grabs Eddy's shoulder.

"Eddy, let me drive…" Johnny says.

"Can't you see _**I'm**_ driving here?" Eddy says.

"Just get your ass up and let me drive!"

Eddy does as he is told and gets in the back. Johnny begins to make twists and turns until he comes through the campsite.

"Eddy, take care of the others." Johnny says.

Eddy becomes astonished and looks at the others in disbelief,

"WH-what are you talking about."

"I'm saying, take care of them. You'll figure it out."

Johnny comes to a cliffside, and comes to a stop. Eddy and the others begin to get confused and ask Johnny what he's doing.

"Just get out when I say. I'm going to get us out of here."

"What? What are you doing?"

"I always looked up to you, Eddy. Like a year older brother."

"What?"

"Remember when we had that fight? And we made up after that? Those were good times."

Eddy is still in shock until Nazz shakes his shoulder and says,

"Eddy…he's saying goodbye."

"What?"

"My plan was to let you guys live. I was never a normal kid; I was usually the annoying baldy."

"Johnny, don't say that," Eddy pleads. "I always thought you were funny."

"Yeah, but to an extant… I'm sorry that I got on your nerves. I'm sorry that I'll never see you guys at school…I'm transferring."

Ed began to cry, and when Johnny turned around, he was crying too. Except his face was strong and determined.

"I want you to not forget me, Eddy. Please, don't forget me. Make sure that you keep her safe and the rest, too."

The sound of a motor going through the woods was deafening. Johnny wiped his tears away, and the car came closer and closer.

"NOW! GET OUT!" Johnny yelled.

The others did as they were told, and they got out just in time before the car hit. Alistair also jumped out of the car, too, leaving Anastasia doomed to die just as Johnny did.

"This is it." Johnny thought to himself. "This is how I'm going to die….it was fun while it lasted."

Johnny and Anastasia were in halfway down the cliffside, with Anastasia shouting obscenities as Alistair had trapped her in the car.

"Goodbye, everyone." Johnny said to himself, and he has only time to crack a small smile and shed a single tear before the van and the car reach the bottom. Within seconds, they explode together.

_One love…one heart…let's…get…together and…feel alright._

"JOHNNY!"


	21. The Final Battle

"JOHNNY!"

The explosion could be heard from everywhere. As the others leaned over the cliff side to look at the explosion, Eddy began to feel tears running down his cheek. Double D's lips passed a whimper; Ed began to cry uncontrollably and Nazz pressed her face against Eddy's shoulder, her tears drenching his jacket. All for the kid who sacrificed himself so his friends could survive.

"How was I supposed to know he was going to do that?" Eddy asked.

Double D put his hand on his shoulder.

"You couldn't…Johnny's unpredictable, you know."

"But why? We could've survived together!" Ed wailed.

"He went through all that…all that trouble and now he's gone…what do we do now?" Nazz said.

The group heard the cock of a gun and turned around. Alistair was holding his pistol toward them, walking towards them slowly.

"It's time you guys got lost." Alistair said.

Eddy stood up and clenched his fist. He then pointed his finger at him and yelled,

"It's your fault he's dead! We could've survived because of you! But, you had to play this stupid game. We all could've gone home but you had to wipe that away!"

Alistair just stared blankly and walked towards them, firing a warning shot. The others stood up and stood together, a chain forming between them. Eddy remembered the machete was still on his hilt, and he gripped it tightly. He walked towards him, taking the machete out from his hilt, and placed it on the ground in front of them.

"How about this, A good old fight to the death…the first person to kill the other with the machete is the winner."

Alistair considered this, and agreeing, he threw his gun to the side. Eddy straightens his skull cap and begins to circle him. Alistair walks in the opposite directions, studying his opponent.

Eddy charged at him full force, and Alistair kneed him in the stomach. Eddy tightened his stomach to absorb the blow and got back up, taking up a boxing stance. He throws a punch, but Alistair dodges the fist and punches Eddy in the face. Eddy gets off balance and Alistair trips him. Eddy quickly gets up, and wipes blood from his lips. The others watch on, trying to get him to stop.

"Eddy please! He's too strong!" Nazz yells.

"He knows martial arts, Eddy. You can't do it!" Double D shouts.

Eddy shouts back, "Remember those boxing lessons I took? That should help me, right?"

Double D then remembers when they were twelve. Eddy was taking boxing lessons on Double D's offering, yet he was the shortest kid there. Needless to say, he won about half of the fights he got into. Double D was very impressed, and Eddy's ego just got bigger and bigger. He challenged Ed to a match, but that fight landed him in the hospital with a broken nose and fractured ribs.

Double D got back to reality and encouraged Eddy on. Nazz and Ed picked up on it and began to shout and jeer at Alistair. Eddy smiled a little to thank them for supporting him and got back to the fight.

Eddy threw a haymaker at him, making contact with his face. Alistair wiped some blood on his hand and came back at him, kicking him. Eddy blocked the kick with his arm and tackled him to the ground. Alistair reversed it and elbowed Eddy in the face.

Eddy grunted and pushed him off of him. He then noticed the machete behind him and sprinted forward, with Alistair going after him. He leaped for the machete, but Alistair grabbed his legs and he fell flat on his stomach. The machete bounced and fell over the cliff, catching itself on a root. Eddy began to lose hope in the fight, so he felt like giving up. At that moment, Alistair dragged Eddy towards him and proceeded to kick him. Eddy felt blow after blow land on his stomach, and he grabbed his leg and threw him down. From then on, it was a clinch fight. Alistair then grabbed Eddy and threw him over his shoulder. Eddy's hope was beginning to fade, and his face went from proud and hopeful to hopeless and scared. He closed his eyes, waiting for Alistair to come down on him and take Eddy's life…

Eddy heard a thud and opened his eyes, looking to his right. He saw Ed on top of Alistair, trying to crush the life out of him. Eddy became shocked, until Ed looked at him and yelled,

"Eddy, get the machete!"

"But it's gone, Ed!" Eddy yelled back.

"No, it's not. I saw it get latched on to a root sticking out of the ground."

Eddy's face began to fluster with emotions, from shock to hate to hopefulness. Eddy leaped to his feet and ran towards the cliff and looked over, the machete just out of his reach.

Eddy got down on his stomach and inched himself closer and closer to the machete. Nazz and Double D were watching both the fight and Eddy getting closer to falling off the cliff.

Eddy grabbed the loop on the hilt of the machete, and began to pull himself up towards the top. But, Eddy's legs began to slip, and Eddy felt it. The shock went to his face, and he began to feel himself fall towards his friend's tomb. As Eddy embraced death fully, he felt hands on his right leg. They pulled him to the top and noticed it was Double D. Eddy got a smug look on his face and said,

"Never thought a twig like you could pull me up…"

Double D chuckled and then pointed to the struggle behind him, with Ed looking like he was fighting a losing battle. Eddy came towards him with the machete and came down, but Alistair dodged it just in time. Ed moved his head to the side, narrowly missing the blade. Alistair came behind Eddy and grabbed Eddy's waist, throwing him above and over him, making a wrestling suplex. Eddy landed on his neck, knocking the wind out of him. Eddy keeled over and hunched into a ball. Ed grabbed Alistair and threw him down on the ground with one hand. Alistair landed on his back, and he then felt the wind knocked out of _him._ Eddy recovered grabbed the weapon, and came down on Alistair, the blade lodging into his shoulder and into his chest.

Eddy felt victorious, and raised his hand high. The others cheered on and jumped high, and relishing that the game was over. Ed was hugging Eddy when he noticed a sharp inhale come from Alistair, and he looked up at them.

"Eddy…" Alistair said, weakly.

Eddy looked down and got confused, and Alistair pulled him closer, and Eddy put his hand on the machete, ready to kill him.

"I'm…sorry…for all I've done." He said.

"What are you talking about?" Eddy asked.

"Everything…I should…be better…than this…"

Eddy began to feel remorse, and he began to shake him.

"Alistair, you're going to be okay."

The others go to Eddy's side, sensing something's wrong. The other's then saw the look on Alistair's face, full of remorse and sadness.

"I'm sorry…" Alistair finally said, and he exhaled his last breath.

"I'm sorry, too! For all I've done! Please, stay alive!" Eddy pleaded.

Double D took his shoulder again, and shook his head, making it clear that he was gone. Nazz began to cry softly, Ed steeled his face, and so did Eddy. Eddy took his skull cap off, revealing his long brown hair and put it to his chest.

"I hated you…and what you did is unforgivable…but I believe that you were someone in that corpse of a body…we're sorry."

Eddy took the machete from his chest and picked up Alistair's corpse. He walked forward, with the others getting in line beside him. He got to the cliff side and dropped the corpse over the side, letting the body fall into the fire that entombed the corpses of Johnny, Anastasia and finally him.

Eddy looked over, and noticed the moonlight becoming extra brighter. He looked to the others, their faces glistening with tears. Eddy then put his cap back on, straightening it and fixing it.

"What do we do now?" Eddy asks…


	22. Epilogue: Journal Entry

_February 18th, 2015._

_My name is Eddy. I'm fifteen years old and I'm on the run. I'm a survivor of what I and my friends call 'the Program', where they send kids to fight each other to the death for three days. We don't know how long this has been going on, as they never televise the program until the winner is called. Me and the others, including Nazz, Double D and Ed are the only survivors of this year's. Double D had removed our collars after the fight I had with Alistair, the last Kanker alive who participated. We hijacked a plane, and are heading to Greece. Double D learned to fly a plane from his father, who was a pilot for a hobby. The reason I'm writing this is so I don't forget that he's useful. Ha-ha…anyway, the program put us through hell and back, and most of us didn't come back. The ones who survived will never forget what we went through…that's why we're fighting back. We're in Greece now, Ed and Double D had gone to Romania in search of something they didn't tell me and Nazz, even Ed doesn't even know, and he's been told the plan in whisper millions of times. It doesn't matter…what matters is that we're fighting back against the government who put us through this fucked up 'game'. My name is Eddy McGee; I'm with Nazz Van Bartonschmeer, Double D Martins and Ed Burkins. We…will…fight back. Those listed at the bottom are the reasons we're fighting._

_Johnny Martinez_

_Rolf Kirkenshire_

_Sarah Burkins_

_Anastasia Smith_

_Alistair Kanker_

_Terry McGee_

_The kids who died in every single program._

_We don't know if we'll survive this war we're declaring, and they may drag us to Hell, but we'll kick all the way down…_


End file.
